


7 Days

by Lady_LB



Series: Truce [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Broken Hearts, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hawmoth is gone, Hugs, Making Friends, Marichat, Moving On, No more akuma attacks, Oblivious, Oblivious Adrien Agreste, POV Adrien Agreste, This guy just doesn't get it., captain oblivious, more than friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-07-25 12:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 44,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16197665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_LB/pseuds/Lady_LB
Summary: Hawkmoth had called a truce and given up his powers, temporarily.Adrien's life feels like it's gone down the drain. Ladybug has pushed away Chat Noir, telling him that they will never be more than teammates, even if there was a reveal and now even his friend Marinette is treating Adrien differently.Thankfully, Marinette is there for Chat Noir as they both try to heal from their broken hearts, despite Alya's teasing.





	1. Day 1 - Monday

**Author's Note:**

> Much of the first chapter contains spoilers from the story Ambulance, but if you're a Marichat fan this may be more fun to read without that context.
> 
> This will have rather long chapters, between 3500-5500 words. Hopefully I'll be updating at least once a week, although it could be more...
> 
> Also as always, I do not own the characters from the show Miraculous Ladybug and they belong to their respective owners and creators.

_My life sucks._ Adrien thought as he raced across the rooftops of Paris as Chat Noir.

School had been…unusual. With no threat of akuma attacks, you’d think that everyone would be celebrating. Most people were, but his group of friends at school, well, things had been stressful.

And frankly, after all the drama from the last three days or so, Adrien had had enough.

Seeing Marinette toughing out the day, with her plee to be given some time to get over her broken heart and to have that request being ignored by several hopeful guys sickened him.

Hadn’t she been through enough?

It didn’t help that Alya was either distracted or teasing Marinette. Even Nino and Chloe seemed to be a bit on edge compared to the relief that everyone else seemed to be expressing.

He didn’t really want to think about it as his own civilian and heroic lives had blown up too.

Nathalie had gone to the hospital for a few days after falling down the Agreste mansion’s stairs Friday.

This caused his father to act strangely at times over the weekend. Even giving Adrien new responsibilities and freedoms as a result.

Adrien now had his own personal assistant, Alex, who was paid out of the trust fund that his grandfather had set up. The grandfather that had left him far richer than anyone needed to be and with about a third of the stock of his father’s company in his portfolio too.

Thankfully his first meeting with the trustees of his trust this afternoon had gone well.

Yes, he wants to keep things as they are right now for the most part.

Adrien was willing to give his opinions when necessary, but he didn’t want to have more than one meeting with the trustees every other month about the whole account. They’ve done well enough in the past without his input so far. His grandfather had picked a good company to watch his assets after all. Although there would be another meeting later this week to cover everything else. _Ugh_.

He told them to keep the trust his grandfather set up for him alive and a public secret until he’s twenty-one. Being the richest single guy in Paris is not a title he wants to be known by right now or ever really after all, despite how true it may be.

Adrien would be taking over the separate account with his earnings as a model in the meantime.

He told his trustees to send the Gabriel stocks from his earnings as a model to the trust account first, if only to simplify the accounts. But he had to agree to go to the stockholders’ meetings still, since his father made it clear that he would inherit his majority share if anything happened to him.

_Thanks dad._ He thought.

He had to agree to meet with his grandfather’s partner’s son and grandson in two weeks in Milan who held the other half of the small hotel chain in Italy that his grandfather and now he was the silent partner with. Apparently, the business was a variety of very successful high-end hotel resort and spas.

Adrien also told the trust to give them the go ahead to research the options of having the company go public or franchising out the brand in preparation for his meeting with them. Apparently, they were already about to open a fifth hotel to the chain on their own, in addition to the ones in Milan, Parma, Bologna and Rome. There would be another hotel in Venice and that would open in about six weeks apparently.

Adrien also had to review his many other real estate holdings that he had inherited. The Genoa house or estate had been his grandfather’s originally. The buildings in London, the vacation home and warehouses in Spain and the brownstone and warehouses in New York were all currently being rented out under the control of the trust. Plus a few others.

Then there were the buildings in Paris, but he didn’t want to think about the dozen or so structures or properties in his home town that he didn’t know he owned until today.

One of his condos, there were three, while not as large as the others was near the Eiffel tower and had recently been vacated and he’d been asked to inspect it personally. Which was fine but they wanted his opinion on some needed renovations, which Adrien really was out of his element for.

Maybe if he could get past admitting that he was obnoxiously wealthy he could ask his friends? Specifically, Marinette, what he should do. At least she had some design sense.

Although she seemed so not be herself lately though after what she had gone through and he really didn’t want to bother her.

Apparently, Marinette had secretly been chatting online with some green-eyed guy that she met awhile back for a long time now and had fallen for him, keeping her crush secret apparently.

_Maybe she only told Alya about him? Nino seemed to know about it, but he was dating Alya so maybe he found out that way._  

Adrien had to admit that online wasn’t the best place to meet people, of course that was one of his excuses as to where he met the girl he liked, although he couldn’t admit that she was Ladybug.

Was.

What a horrible word.

Ladybug had told him to move on, that they could only be partners and until he realized that… she said that she needed to keep her distance from him.

Which hurt.

A lot.

He’d gone to Marinette for a sympathetic ear the day before that happened after an argument with Ladybug, as Chat Noir, only to find out that her own heart had been recently broken. _How had she hidden the heart break from everyone for so long? She must have been in denial or something._

Then he came back the night Ladybug pushed him away.

He was convinced that Marinette’s hugs were magic because one hug from her, and he would feel more at ease and calmed down. _If only I could hug her as Adrien, but she would probably not like that._

Looking back on the weekend gave him a small grin at first though.

Adrien had the best time spending a morning with Marinette on Saturday before the akuma attack after she had come to the hospital the night before so he wouldn’t be alone as he waited for news about Nathalie. Once the emergency was over, they had gone to the museum because they had slept so well leaning on each other in the waiting room together, that they both had plenty of energy and surprisingly, especially for him, that gave them time to hang out together.

_And it was really fun to hang out with Marinette too_.

They had laughed and then cried and hugged over the Legend of the Red Witch and her knight the Black Cat, a legend about previous miraculous holders.

His father, although deeply disturbed by Nathalie’s injury, had then assigned Adrien his own assistant after the attack and gave him much more control of his own schedule too, including cutting down on some things. His father had also suggested going on a working vacation to Genoa and Milan for a month over the summer break while bringing along some friends, giving them part time jobs for the month too. Which was wonderful! Adrien was thrilled by the opportunity.

Nino, Alya and Marinette had been happy to come along.

Although Nino didn’t like the idea of Adrien inviting Ladybug and Rena Rouge, since at the time after a text with Ladybug he had assumed that they were going to finally reveal themselves to each other. Nino picked up on the fact that it was the girl that Adrien really liked and had warned him not to tell Marinette about it until he knew that she, Ladybug, could come.

Maybe Nino already knew about Marinette’s broken heart.

She seemed fine when Adrien told her about the other girls he wanted to invite, maybe hearing him gush about them reminded her of the green-eyed jerk that broke her heart though.

_Marinette may say she was at fault, but the idiot should have been able to see the wonderful amazing girl before him and at least have turned her down long ago if he wasn’t interested. Marinette certainly took his rejection very hard after all._

Ironically the vacation wouldn’t be possible if Hawkmoth hadn’t called a truce of sorts, discreetly handing over his kwami to the duo after the first good akuma, the Constuctor, was created. She had repaired, improved and expanded dozens of the landmarks and public areas of Paris, saving the city hundreds of millions of Euros (and construction time) in the process.

Hawkmoth had taken the precaution to have the Constructor literally lock up the duo for an hour so she could do her work, she made sure that no one was hurt and Ladybug didn’t have to use her Miraculous cure for once, making the changes permanent. It would have been easy for the Constructor to have taken their miraculous too, but strangely, she didn’t even try.

The Constructor had told them that Hawkmoth wanted to call a truce but since he knew that they wouldn’t believe him, he had his kwami Nooroo delivered by Nino of all people to the heroic duo after the Constructor’s self-purification as proof.

Nooroo was trapped in a magical cage with a timer that gave them eight weeks before he could return to his Master with their answer to his proposal. A proposal that Nooroo will not share until there was only an hour left before he could leave. Until then Hawkmoth was powerless.

This gave them the opportunity to get to know one another and to have a reveal. Even Master Fu was okay with it, at first. Ladybug thought Hawkmoth was up to something especially since he had hinted that he wanted the duo to spend more time together. So now Ladybug was adamant to keeping their secret identities from each other and was unwilling to consider a reveal, even though Rena Rouge discovered his Lady’s identity already.

Ladybug had apparently had her heart broken by some guy that she said, “was moving on with someone else, someone …not me.” Which was totally unbelievable to Chat Noir, the guy must have been insane and blind as a bat to not see the beauty that was before him in Ladybug’s civilian self. She must be someone amazing, like Marinette, he was sure of it. How could anyone not see her for her?

Honestly, he had to admit that it was strange that Marinette’s heart was broken by some guy online around the same time that Ladybug’s guy had told her he was interested in someone else.

But Marinette had her heartbroken before Ladybug’s online and had hidden it in typical Marinette fashion as she was there for him during the emergency with Nathalie. Maybe hanging out with Adrien the morning after the accident was a good distraction for her? He really didn’t know.

Besides, Ladybug knew her guy in person, at least that’s what it sounded like. The guy that broke her heart between the time that Hawkmoth called his truce and the meeting with Master Fu and the rest of the team. She had sounded far more open to a reveal through text before the meeting after all.

Chat was fairly certain that he would throttle the idiot, the tall blond jerk that had hurt his Lady if he ever found out who he was. Or the green-eyed jerk that had hurt Marinette. He wasn’t picky.

_I’d throttle them both if I got the chance_. Adrien thought. _How can there be two equally stupid guys out there?_

Unfortunately, Ladybug started to push him away once her heart had been broken too, Rena Rouge had told him that Chat Noir may remind Ladybug of the guy, unfortunately.

_I pushed her too far, she wasn’t ready for a reveal and I was stupid enough to push to have one._

After he had plead his case, or had tried, Ladybug told him to move on from her, to give up on the dream that they could ever be more than partners, no more than teammates. It wasn’t until later that he remembered that she thought he deserved someone who loved all of him and that couldn’t be her, even with a reveal, according to her.

He tried to talk with her, but she just got more frustrated and then she left him.

Practically ordering him to move on.

It still hurt.

That wasn’t all either in the life of Chat Noir, despite it being the greatest change.

Their team had grown. There was now Rena Rouge and Queen Bee, both of which had their miraculous on them full time now.

Somehow, with a personal chat account that she made so they could communicate while they were civilians, Rena Rouge had figured out who Chat Noir was as well, practically within a day.

He was a bit disconcerted, but he was alright with it. He didn’t even want to know her identity in return, since knowing it would obviously lead him to Ladybug’s since he knew that they were friends on both sides of the mask, _and his Lady, No, Ladybug, she doesn’t want that._

He mentally scolded himself for calling her his Lady.

Queen Bee seemed okay, eager to please, but okay. Apparently Master Fu had been preparing her to join the team and met them after they found out that Paris would be safe for a time so the rest of them could go on vacation. Queenie had summer school and wouldn’t be having much of a summer break herself, so she would be in Paris just in case something happened.

Ironically, she reminded him of himself actually, so happy and eager to be a superhero.

Then there was the fallout that he had to witness with Marinette as his civilian self.  Not only had Marinette also not been herself this morning. She was hounded by guys that figured out she was single and Alya was keeping count.

Apparently, Mariette had six suitors already today and Alya had suggested that maybe Adrien should take her out as friends. “Who knows… you just might find out that you’re perfect for each other.” Alya had claimed.

Which didn’t make sense, Marinette was a fan of his work, or was at least, but she was far too nervous around him until lately. Somehow her broken heart had distracted her enough to speak normally around guys, dangerously straightforward but as kind as Ladybug.

_Marinette would have told me if she had liked me like that by now,_ he thought. _Besides,_ _there was that other guy that she liked for a long time and hey, it really isn’t a good time for either of us really._

Marinette and Adrien both needed time to heal and move on.

Just like Ladybug and Chat Noir.

He’d been thoroughly partner-zoned and it stunk.

Adrien was also annoyed that he had missed an unplanned patrol this afternoon, the next one was tomorrow, but apparently the girls had gotten together and run around Paris while he was stuck in his trustee’s meeting. Queen Bee and Rena Rouge had been spotted and Ladybug had joined them soon after for about an hour according to the Ladyblog.

They had gone home by the time Chat Noir had an opportunity to race across the rooftops on his own.

It was lonely after dark.

_Maybe my Princess would be up for a visit?_ He thought.

…

Marinette was sitting on her deck chair, her sketchpad on her lap, forgotten apparently as she was staring at the sky above her.

_Maybe she’s having trouble concentrating right now?_ Chat Noir thought. _She has been through a lot after all._

_Maybe she could use a visit just as much as I could?_

“Hey Princess!” Chat called out to her as he landed across from her on her balcony, leaving her plenty of space. He’d missed her kindness and company. Seeing her as Adrien, whom she seemed to be more distant to than usual at school, just wasn’t the same.

She had been there for him, for Chat Noir after all… after Ladybug had pushed him away and broken his heart, like he had been there for her the night before.

Ladybug had refused him, well, the chance to know him as himself and told him they couldn’t be more than partners after all, since she thought he loved her for the mask and not for her, likening his love for her to her love for the stupid jerk that ignored her and went after some other girl.

_Ahh, but it’s best not to think about Ladybug right now._

“Hey Chat.” Marinette replied kindly, but with a touch of sadness. “Out for another patrol?”

He shook his head, “no, just trying to make sense of things and to clear my head. Purr-sonally, a run across the rooftops can help you think things through.”

She chuckled half heartedly as she got up and stood beside him at the railing lining her balcony, “maybe I should try that sometime.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind taking you out for a run sometime, you’re not heavy at all.” He offered.

She winced at that but then giggled, “thanks Chat, but honestly, it’s kind of rude to mention a girl’s weight.”

“Even as a compliment?” He asked hopefully, “I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“I know, I’ve noticed that you don’t always know what’s okay to talk about and for some girls, okay most girls, that’s a taboo subject.” She waved it off. “Just thought you’d like to know.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know, I didn’t mean to insult you Marinette.” He apologized sincerely.

She waved him off, “I know you didn’t mean anything. I was just letting you know, all right?” She patted his shoulder. “It’s fine really.”

He nodded, then remembered how comforting and magical her hugs were, they had hugged a lot on the nights that they had been there for each other and he was looking forward to hugging his sweet classmate again. Seeing that she was still a bit down, he hesitantly and hopefully asked, “do you need a hug?”

She gave him a small smile, “From you? Always.”

He chuckled as he opened his arms and she walked over to him and hugged him.

_She has the most wonderful hugs._ He thought as a sense of ease flowed through him as she settled in his arms, his cheek resting on her head, allowing him to enjoy the soothing scent of her shampoo, _vanilla maybe? Or is that just her._ He wondered.

They stood like that for a good ten minutes.

“Chat?” Marinette spoke first.

“Hmm? Yes, Princess?”

“I have a confession to make.”

“Why Purr-incess!” He leaned away from her, still holding her with one arm as he placed his other hand on his chest dramatically, “have you fallen for me already?” He smirked at her gleefully.

She laughed, “no you dumb cat!” She playfully smacked the hand on his chest before resting her hand on his own. The moment of levity passed quickly.

_What I wouldn’t do to smack around that idiot that hurt this sweet girl._

Adrien turned his hand slightly and he held her hand in his own as he turned to see her better.

“It’s just, ugh, how do I say this without you taking it the wrong way?” She said frustratingly.

Preparing for the worst, for her to tell him to leave her alone too, just like everyone important in his life had done, he lost his smile as he squeezed her hand and sorrowfully said, “just tell me the truth Marinette. That’s all that I ask.”

She sighed, “oh Chat. Don’t be that way, it’s not bad bad. It’s kind of good?” She said uncertainly.

He let out the breath that he hadn’t known he been holding in as he pulled her closer and rested his head on hers once again, “thank goodness. You kind of scared me there, Princess.”

“I’m sorry.” She sighed, “I know you don’t need any more drama.”

“That would be meow-velous.”

“Oh, Kitty.” She sighed,

“Kitty now huh?” He looked down at her, “really?”

“Is that okay?”

He thought for a moment, “From you? Certainly. Call me whatever you like Princess, I’ll always come running.” He joked.

“Really now?”

“Well, anything Cat themed, it’s kind of my thing.” He answered as he counted his nicknames with his claws, “Kitty, Minou, Chat, Chaton, Cat. Awesome.”

“Awesome huh?” She teased.

“So, you agree!” He smiled at her as she fought a laugh.

“Sure, my little Kitty Kat!”

“Hey, I’m not so little.” He pouted.

“Sure Kitten.” She had a small smirk as she said it.

His pout grew just a little, “I’m teasing you Chat Noir.” She said, “I know that you’re not a little boy anymore.”

“Well, I am part cat.” He admitted, but then he took her hand, and gazed down at her as he almost purred, “but I’d like to think that you see me as a man too.”

Marinette looked up at him and froze, her gorgeous eyes growing big as she looked at him, finally as she let go of his hand and brought her hand up to her face, covering her mouth as she blushed deeply.

Chat realized his mistake, “No wait! I didn’t mean to make it sound like that Princess!”

“Chat I…”

Uncharacteristically, he cut her off as he tried to explain, “I’m so sorry Marinette! I like you Marinette, really, I do but I know what you’ve been through and you know what I’ve been through and I would never proposition you like that, unless you wanted me to, wait, no, that didn’t come out right! I know that you don’t and I’m so sorry, we’ve just gotten so close so quickly and I don’t want to lose you or your friendship and…” He waved towards his other arm that was still around her waist, “I like being with you and holding you and…”

Marinette placed a finger on his lips, stopping his word vomit, “It’s okay Chat. I understand, I don’t want to lose you either.” She then pulled away her finger.

“You don’t?”

Marinette shook her head, “No, I don’t.” Still blushing, she put her hands on his shoulders to look him squarely in the eye, “I care about you Chat Noir. I know we’ve both been through a lot lately and I’m sorry I made it...” she rolled her eyes as she tried to find the right words, “strange between us. I like us being close like this too.” She took a breath and admitted, “you’re my best guy friend, after all, really.”

“Really?” He asked eagerly.

She nodded as she let her hands run down his arms to hold his clawed hands in her own. “Really. I just… wanted to talk to you about my parents.”

“Your parents?” His ears showed how confused he was as he cocked his head to the side in a very cat like manner.

“Yeah, my mother saw us hugging the other night and now they want to meet you.”

Chat chuckled, “meeting the parents. Isn’t that something you do when a relationship gets serious?” He teased.

“We’re not like that Kitty and you know it!” She poked his chest once in emphasis.

He smiled, “and yet you keep calling me Kitty!”

Now she pouted, “Chattt!” she whined.

He chuckled, “I know, I know. Mew don’t like me like that.”

“Uh huh.” She gave him a look, knowing he had better material and it was coming.

“At least not yet!” He added.

“Chat!” She lightly smacked his arm as he laughed.

Then she laughed too.

It was laughter that they both needed. It was such a relief just to be near her.

After they calmed down, he told her, “I’d love to meet your parents Marinette. I’m available at 5:00pm tomorrow, but I have to leave by 6:00pm for patrol. Would that work? They have to go to bed early, right?”

She nodded, “thanks for remembering. Would you like to join us for dinner then? We usually eat around 5:00pm and I’m sure that they’d love to have you come.”

His eyes lighted up, “you’re asking me out to dinner with your parents too Princess? Are you sure you’re not trying to win my poor kitty heart?”

“Chattt!” She whined again before she took a calming breath and told him, “it’s just as friends. They want to get to know the guy I’ve been meeting up on my balcony before they give me permission to have him in my room or the house, with the doors open of course.”

He thought for a moment, having never thought she’d invite him in like that before, not like it mattered or that it meant anything, but he nodded. “Of course. I wouldn’t want to sully My Princess’s reputation after all.” He kissed her knuckles to emphasis this and she couldn’t help the slight blush that appeared, despite her exhaustion.

Overlooking the ‘My Princess’ part, she yawned, “yeah. Thanks Kitty. I’ve had a long day though and I really ought to head to bed. They’re giving us a curfew of midnight too by the way.”

He chuckled. Tom and Sabine were great parents.

Glancing at his baton he realized it was nearly 10:00pm, a little early for him and frankly for her, since he’d caught her designing as late as 1:00AM before, but they had been through a lot lately, it was a school night and he was tired as well if he had to be honest.

“It has been a rough day for me too Princess, but getting to see you has made all the difference.” He pulled her towards himself, “another hug for the road?”

She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, “always Chat. Always.”


	2. Tuesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter summary –  
> Hawkmoth has called a temporary truce so there are no akuma attacks about to happen. Adrien is richer than he ever dreaded due to a trust his Grandpa left him. Both Marinette and Ladybug have had their hearts broken recently. News that Marinette is single travels fast and Alya likes to tease her. Ladybug has written off Chat Noir as anything beyond a teammate, he is now recovering from that with the help of his friend Marinette who invited him to dinner with her parents.
> 
> This Chapter – Dinner with Marinette’s parents as Chat Noir. Tom talks to Chat Noir man to cat.

4:50pm

Chat Noir is racing across the rooftops with a bunch of flowers and a box of the finest truffles for Marinette’s parents as gifts for his hosts.

He couldn’t wait to see Marinette, it had been another rough day at school.

Marinette was still a bit stand offish with Adrien, but that wasn’t unusual, just a change from the more relaxed and happier Mari he had spent Saturday with. The one that was ignoring or in denial of her broken heart. Her stutter was still gone though.

What was unusual today though was that Alya was still trying to set her up with him, Adrien him, again. Despite Marinette’s requests to be left alone. She was so adamant about not getting into a relationship right now with any guy, green-eyed or not that neither Adrien or her would give it a second thought.

Marinette wouldn’t even agree to a friendly lunch with Alya, Nino and Adrien after Alya had pushed her too far apparently. She went to sit with Ivan and Mylene instead.

Alya took distinct pleasure in telling Adrien at lunch that no less than ten guys had asked out Marinette out since yesterday, including some guys that had already graduated from Lycee, which would make them close to twenty. Marinette was only seventeen and a half! That had bothered him as well for some reason.

At least Rena Rouge texted him and asked how he was throughout the day. It was nice that she seemed to care in her own way. Although she kept saying that she wanted to spar tonight to knock some sense into him, or Ladybug, or both. She was friendly but frighteningly scary that way, maybe it was just her way of showing that she cared? Maybe she was just a bit harsh sometimes in how she would tease people like Alya could be? Those two would probably be a force to be reckoned with together. That thought caused him to shiver at the thought.

Then of course Adrien also had a short meeting with his assistant Alex as well about the upcoming vacation and then he had his Chinese lesson. Thankfully he’d found a private tutor to come over twice a week during the working vacation that was coming up to keep up his skills.

His father had approved and actually send him an approving text about that one.

After all of that, Adrien had just enough time to get the flowers and truffles before he arrived at Marinette’s balcony. Adrien already knew her parents, but now it was time to meet the parents as Chat Noir.

…

He knocked on Marinette’s skylight and heard a little bit of shuffling before she opened it.

“Come on in Kitty!” She teased as she retreated and he laughed as he climbed through the rooftop entrance himself, quickly getting off of her bed because it wasn’t gentlemanly of him to be on it.

“You’re early.” She said as she returned to brushing her hair.

That’s when he got a look at her, she had her hair down, but she had changed her outfit as well. She had taken off her ever present purse and traded her usual wear for a light blue Chinese Qiapo blouse paired with some dark skinny jeans. It really made her eyes pop, and he realized how lovely they were once more. If someone had asked he would have to say that Marinette’s eyes were prettier than Ladybug’s at that moment.

She tied up her hair in her usual style and then he swallowed, realizing that he was here to talk, not stare at his friend, no matter how pretty she was.

“Chat? Did you hear me?”

“What? Uh, sorry, no.” He admitted shyly, the flowers and truffles held behind him still, “I kind of got distracted by your beauty.”

Marinette laughed with just the slightest hint of a blush. “You’re so sweet Chat Noir, that’s one of the reasons that I like you, but I’m hardly model material.”

_Am I hearing her right?_ He wondered. _Is she saying she thinks that she’s not beautiful?_

“Marinette, don’t sell yourself short. I’m sure there are plenty of models out there that wish that they had half of your natural beauty.”

Now she blushed, he found that he kind of liked that color on her face, “see, with that blush you’ve got the purr-fect girl next door look going for you.”

“Oh, Chat,” she rolled her eyes, “you’re such a flirt sometimes.”

“It’s not flirting when you’re telling the truth Princess.” He winked at her.

She giggled and shook her head, “you’re incorrigible.”

“And you’re beautiful, so there.” He stuck his tongue out at her only to be surprised when she caught it between her finger and thumb.

“Mwainett! Wha R ou do-ing?”

“Maman always said that tongues that get stuck out deserve to get caught.” She let go.

He pulled his tongue back into his mouth and rubbed it against the roof of his mouth. Trying not to think about how her fingers tasted good.

“Don’t do something like that around Maman, her tongue pinches are legendary!”

“She’s done that to you?”

“And Alya too! But only when I’ve been cheeky. Where do you think I learned it from?”  She winked at him, which somehow made him shiver, just a little bit.

Thankfully, she hadn’t noticed the effect she had on him as she asked, “Now what do you have behind your back?” as if he could hide it.

“Just something for your parents,” he pulled out the large bouquet of flowers and the truffles for her inspection.

“Chat, you didn’t need to bring anything.” Then she saw the brand of the rather large box of truffles, ‘La Maison du Chocolat’ and gasped, “Chat Noir this really is too much! That’s like the most expensive brand of chocolates around!”

“Then it’s just purr-fect for your family then Princess, they’re chocolates fit for royalty!”

Marinette snickered, “you’re spoiling us Chat Noir.” She said as she placed a tentative hand on his shoulder.

“That’s Kitty to you Purr-incess.” He wrapped the arm holding the flowers around her waist and pulled her into a hug. Giving him a chance to rub his cheek into her hair briefly.

They both couldn’t stop from releasing a small sigh contentedly.

_Your hugs are the best Marinette._

“Marinette! Is your friend here yet?” Sabine called up the stairs, “The dumplings are done!”

“We’re coming Maman!” Marinette called down to her, then she turned and asked Chat with a wicked look in her eye, “Are you ready for this Kitty?”

He swallowed and answered as they turned and took a few steps towards the trapdoor, “I’m sure your parents aren’t that bad Purr-incess.”

She held out her hand and stopped him, her hand resting on his chest momentarily until she blushed and drew it away. He grinned at her reaction, “why so shy all of a sudden Princess?”

“They’re going to tease us Chat!” She whispered, “they’re my parents, they’re going to be brutal!”

“It can’t be that bad.” He reasoned. The wide look in her eyes were warning him to prepare himself.

“Oh, it’s going to be bad Kitty, so bad.” Marinette was certain.

“Kitty huh?” Sabine’s head was looking up through the trapdoor, “aren’t you two lovebirds going to come and join us for dinner?”

“Maman! Chat Noir is my friend!” Marinette protested as she blushed at the implication.

Chat Noir just chuckled, it was fun seeing Marinette flustered.

“Uh huh, I’ll be the judge of that sweetheart.” Sabine winked at them and then tossed a dishcloth over her shoulder and headed down, “come on down kids. It’s time to eat.”

…

After coming downstairs, Chat Noir presented Sabine with his gifts.

“Why thank you Chat Noir, you’re such a sweetheart but honestly the gifts are unnecessary, we just wanted the pleasure of your company tonight.”

“Oh,” he really didn’t know what to say about that as Sabine gave him a quick hug, “well, you’re welcome.”

“Why don’t you kids sit down as I serve,” Sabine suggested.

“I don’t mind helping.” Chat offered but Sabine waved them off.

Tom came in then, with a bowl full of pastries and even though they didn’t match tonight’s authentic Chinese meal, he set them in the middle of the table.

“Why hello Chat Noir, how nice of you to join us!” Tom shook Chat Noir’s hand, engulfing the boy’s hand and part of his arm with his large bakers’ hands.

“Nice to meet you too Sir.”

“Being a baker, Papa can’t help but add something to the table.” Marinette whispered.

“Of course,” Tom smiled, “I Loaf to help.” Chat grinned.

“Papa!” Marinette whined, “isn’t it a bit early for puns?”

“Of course, not Cookie.” Tom replied, “I’ll give you a reprieve if I can, shall we say ten minutes?”

“Twenty!” Marinette insisted.

Tom laughed and looked at Chat Noir, “well do you think we could last for fifteen minutes? Or should we just make it a nice baker’s dozen?”

“Papa!”

Tom laughed, “Alright, let’s shoot for fifteen, if that’s okay with our resident superhero.”

Chat shrugged and grinned, “it’s the yeast I can do.”

“Cat!”

Chat Noir laughed, “alright, fifteen minutes, starting now.”

“Good, because it’s time to eat.” Sabine announced. “Before we start, I must say Marinette, your outfit is lovely, did you dress up for a reason.” She tilted her head towards Chat Noir.

Marinette couldn’t help the small blush as she explained, “Chat Noir is always dressed up and I figured for our first dinner together it would make him feel more relaxed if I dressed up too.”

“Well, you do look lovely dear.”

“Thank you Maman.” Marinette answered bashfully as Chat Noir sent a sweet grin her way.

He whispered to her, “she’s right you know.”

Marinette just nodded and whispered back, “thanks.”

Sabine set down a few final dishes and dinner was served.

…

Dinner was remarkable and Chat felt stuffed, he had been given seconds and thirds until he had to stop Sabine from giving him a fourth helping because he was about to burst.

“You need to put some meat on your bones Chat Noir, we even have fresh Tiramisu for dessert.” Sabine proudly proclaimed.

“Thank you, Mrs. Cheng,” Chat started. “But I…”

“Now Chat Noir, I’ve told you, it’s either Sabine or Maman to you. Now, should I call you Kitty too?”

Chat Noir almost choked on the water he was drinking, being called Kitty by Sabine didn’t sound right.

“Or is that just a name our Cupcake is allowed to use?” Tom asked with a wide grin.

“Papa!” Marinette was quite red already, she had blushed to new levels of pink and red as her parents had teased them mercilessly throughout dinner. As soon as her face began to show signs of returning to normal, they would say something else.

Chat Noir gave a slight blush as he thought _, not that I mind the teasing. I do like Marinette, her blush is adorable and she does have the best hugs, but, neither of us are ready for that. But clearly the teasing bothers my Princess, I ought to say something._

Clearing his throat, Chat Noir spoke up, “Kitty is one of the Princess’s names for me,” he looked over at Marinette who was trying to shake her head no before she buried her face in her hands. “I fine with it, coming from her.”

Sabine and Tom smiled warmly, “that’s sweet of you dear.” Sabine replied.

“Yes, now what would you like us to call you son? Chat Noir can’t possibly be your real name.”

Marinette stood up to defend her Kitty, “Papa! You can’t ask him about his secret identity! We don’t want to put him or his loved ones in danger by knowing it!”

Sabine and Tom looked at each other briefly, communicating as married couples occasionally do wordlessly, not that either of the young adults noticed.

“Princess.” Chat placed his hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her back down to her seat beside him. He then took her hand in his and held her attention for a moment, “your parents were just asking me about nicknames that I’d be comfortable with. They weren’t asking who I am under the mask, you know that right?” He rubbed her hand with one of his clawed thumbs to comfort her, an action that was not missed by her parents.

“That’s right sweetheart.” Sabine defended. “your father didn’t mean any harm.”

“I’m sorry Papa.” Marinette apologized, “I guess I just…”

Sabine came over to her daughter and hugged her shoulders, “you were defending your favorite guy. We understand that dear.”

“Maman.” Marinette deadpanned. “Chat and I aren’t like that.”

“Of course, you’re not like that Cupcake. We could tell that already.” She turned to give her husband a look.

 “Of course, I wonder if we should just call you Princess too?” Her father answered as he gave another look towards her mother who only nodded in silent agreement with him about something.

“Papa!” Marinette whined, “that’s just Chat’s name for me, it’s not like he means anything by it.”

“Besides the fact that you’re as beautiful as a Princess and deserve to be treated like royalty?” Chat interjected with a teasing grin, “then no, I don’t mean to imply anything improper. Does it bother you that I call my Princess, well, Princess?”

“We’re not complaining Dear.” Sabine told him, “our Cookie could do worse after all.”

Chat Noir and Marinette almost choked at the same time.

“Now.” Sabine stood up, ignoring their reactions, “why don’t you help me clear the table Marinette so we can let our boys get to know one another.”

Marinette smiled and nodded as she glanced at Chat. He smiled back and leaned back in his chair as he let go of her hand. She sighed as she admitted defeat and helped her mother clear the table then went to do dishes, mouthing the words, ‘good luck’ his way. Adrien couldn’t help but chuckle at her pun.

“I don’t mind helping Sir, I mean Tom.” Chat turned and told her father.

“They’ve got it. We all take turns around here. Next time you’re over for dinner you can help with the dishes too.”

Chat Noir nodded, “it would be my pleasure.”

Tome chuckled, “there’s no need to be so formal, unless of course you’re preparing to ask for my daughter’s hand…”

Adrien about choked as he heard Marinette call out “Papa!” and dropped a dish in the kitchen.

“I’m just teasing again my dear!” Tom called out, but then he lowered his voice, “that was just a good way of finding out if she could hear us.” He shrugged.

Chat’s heart started once again as he whispered, “you wanted to talk to me without her.”

Tom nodded and whispered back, “yes. I wanted to know two things. First of all, do you know who the young man was that broke her heart?”

“I’m afraid not sir, just some green-eyed jerk,” Adrien sighed, “I don’t get it, she’s such a wonderful and awesome girl, anyone with eyes can see that. Do you know who it was?”

Tom thought for a moment, “I don’t think my Cupcake would want me to tell you if she hasn’t told you herself. We’ve met him and he seems like a nice boy, but obviously he didn’t see our daughter the way that you do now.”

Adrien swallowed, thinking, _he’s noticed that I like her._  

He couldn’t help but ask quietly though, “But, I thought she met him online?”

“She probably said that to protect him, her heart may have been broken, but my daughter is a strong young woman and will do anything for those she truly cares for, she’s kind of like your Ladybug that way.” He offhandedly added.

Chat Noir looked down at his hands, “Ladybug isn’t mine.” He sighed, “She’s her own woman and she told me that I needed to move on, that loving her was like loving a fantasy.” He couldn’t help but sniff as he admitted, “she’s told me that we can only be partners, teammates actually now that Rena Rouge and Queen Bee have joined the team.”

He sighed as he admitted, “that’s what Marinette has been helping me with.”

_Why was that so easy to admit to Tom?_

Tom nodded, “So you and Ladybug had an argument then?”

Chat Noir nodded.

“And this was fairly recent?”

“Just a few days ago Sir, I mean Tom.”

Tom nodded thoughtfully, “that leaves me with one more important question.”

Chat nodded for him to go on, “what is your relationship with my daughter exactly? I’ve noticed that you’re quite… close.”

Chat tapped his claws together as he tried to bashfully explain, “Marinette and I are friends, really good friends. We do hug a lot but that’s because, well, I know for me it’s because her hugs are like magic. Hugging her calms me down and it helps me feel more…. more at home with myself? More relaxed and happy. I really don’t know how to describe it.”

Tom nodded, a small smile on his face, “I don’t mean to pry, I just want to look out for my little girl.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Tom.”

“Tom.”

“I have one request.”

“Anything Sir, I mean Tom.”

“Let her heal. Don’t start a relationship with her if you can’t pull through. She’s been through enough already.” Tom quietly told him.

“Sir?”

Tom gave him a strange look, one Adrien didn’t know how to interpret, “what I mean is that she isn’t ready to date, at least not seriously and I think if you really wanted to, it wouldn’t be hard to convince her to date you, but I’m warning you not to. She’s not ready, not until she can tell you about the boy that she broke her heart over and then, if you can help her get over that…” he waved his hand and shrugged, “who am I to complain.”

“But Tom, I’ve told you. We’re just really good friends.”

Tom looked at him knowingly, “you’re more than friends with my daughter Chat Noir, we can tell and it doesn’t look good on you to deny it.”

Adrien swallowed, “is that what it looks like?”

“It is what it is as they say. I’m warning you though not just as a father, but hopefully someday as a father in law.”

Chat Noir froze and just blinked at him.

Tom smiled, “Sabine and I like you. I’m advising you on the best way to court my daughter. She doesn’t need a boyfriend right now, but a friend. And you need to know what happened to her so you can be more than friends if you ever wish to change your relationship status.” He looked off to the side, “a boy needs to become a man and learn to pay attention to the fairer sex as they say.”

Chat looked down at his clawed hands, trying to take this all in. _He’s giving me permission, no, instructions on how to date my Princess? But, we’re not like that… are we?_

Tom coughed, “the girls are almost done cleaning up. Don’t forget Chat Noir, friends first. You can’t rush a relationship with her.”

“I… I don’t intend to.” He whispered and Tom nodded with a grin.

_What am I saying?_

“We both need some time to heal and I don’t want to hurt her, ever.” He then shyly informed her father.

Tom frowned, but nodded. “Well, you may need to clean up after the other guy, but my girl is worth it, isn’t she?”

Adrien nodded as he quietly admitted, “yeah, she is.”


	3. Tuesday - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter summary –  
> Chat Noir had Dinner with Marinette’s parents as Chat Noir. Tom talked to Chat Noir man to cat and gave him some advice.
> 
> This chapter -  
> Chat Noir says goodnight to Marinette then goes on patrol.  
> He talks with Rena Rouge about Marinette afterwards and follows the suggestion to visit his Princess. Which is when he learns about the deal she made with Alya.

After finishing dessert and saying goodbye to Marinette’s parents, it was time for Chat Noir to say goodbye to Marinette in her room. With her bedroom door open of course, just to make sure that they’d covered the new rules of open doors and not after midnight after all.

“Well Princess, that was… interesting.”

“Cringeworthy?” She offered.

He laughed, “sometimes. Although your father practically told me how I should be courting you.” He shyly admitted with a gentle smile.

Seeing the shocked look on her face, he quickly added bashfully, which was really adorable with his cat ears, “I told him that we were just friends and please don’t tell him that I told you.”

She looked at him like he’d lost his mind, “if my Papa is trying to set me up with someone I think I should set him straight Cat.” He took her hand and kissed the back of her knuckles, causing her to smile as he held onto her hand.

He then shook his head, “Marinette, he’s just looking out for you. I really don’t know how to define our relationship as anything besides as good friends, but you have to admit, we’ve been awfully close lately after all.”

She was starting to blush as if he was implying that they had done something. Which they hadn’t.

“No Princess that’s not what I meant! Ugh! I’m not good with words. Here, let me start again,” he cleared his throat and then took her hands in his own as he gazed into her blue eyes.

“Marinette, Princess, you mean so much to me. When we hug it feels like everything will turn out for the better, even when our worlds are crashing down around us. We’ve been through a lot lately and I know that neither of us are ready for anything beyond friendship and that’s okay. I’m not asking for that or for you to wait until I’m ready for that either. All I’m asking is if you’ll let me be there for you, like you’ve been there for me.”

Her eyes were wet and she leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around her. “Chat Noir I think that you’re really good with your words when you’re paying attention, and someday, some girl won’t have a prayer to resist you if you keep talking like that.” She then chuckled and so did he.

 _I wonder if that girl will be you Princess._ He randomly thought before he shook it off, it was too soon and it was hard not feeling like he was somehow cheating on Ladybug.

 _Although Nino says that it’s not breaking up if you were never going out_.

And so, with that in mind, Adrien knew that he wasn’t cheating. Because he and Ladybug had never dated or had that kind of relationship, despite how many times that he had hoped that they someday would.

_Although now, Ladybug has decided that will never happen, even if we had a reveal._

That thought was so depressing.

He sighed as he hugged Marinette close before letting her go, “well, I ought to get going. Patrol starts in five minutes. Rena Rouge said that she wants to spar afterwards so I doubt I’ll be able to stop by again tonight.”

“Oh? You talk outside of the mask?” Marinette asked as she stepped away from him.

“We have a secure chatroom that we use to message each other. She’s been very… anxious to knock some sense into me, or so she says.” He shrugged like it was no big deal.

Marinette chuckled. “Well, I won’t keep you then. Have fun and good luck!”

“Thanks, I’ll need it. Three girls against one isn’t really fair after all.”

“Hey, you’re a team!”

“I know that, it’s just that sometimes it doesn’t seem that way.” He confessed with a shrug.

“Chat Noir, do you need to talk about it before you go?” She sweetly asked.

He shook his head no, “No. I’m just adjusting to all of this still, but uh, can I hug you goodbye one more time Princess? They… they always make me feel better.”

She opened her arms and hugged him, “Me too, and Chat, you don’t have to ask for a hug. You can just give me one, I-I like hugging you.” She shyly admitted.

He grinned into her hair. “Me too.” Then he shocked himself by the urge to nuzzle and kiss her head. He cleared his throat once again, deciding not to act on it. “I’ve got to go.” He walked away from her, gave her a two-finger salute and then he jumped through her open skylight.

…

“Hello Ladies!” Chat Noir called out to Rena Rouge and Queen Bee. They were meeting on a roof south of the Trocadero.

“Hey Tomcat!” Rena called out. “You’re here early.”

“Only two minutes.” Queen Bee added with a teasing grin. “Taking a little extra time grooming yourself tonight Cat?”

“Aww, you’ve caught me. I paws-tively had to look my best to Bee around such Foxy women.”

He looked over Rena’s shoulder and announced, “I rest my case.”

Ladybug landed next to Rena Rouge, glancing at Chat Noir, “hello everyone. Am I interrupting?”

“Of course not, Bugaboo.” All three young women gave him a look as he swallowed and corrected himself, “I mean Ladybug, sorry.” Then he looked down as he sadly added, “I’m working on it.” He looked up at Ladybug and she blinked in his direction with a straight face as she nodded in response but then quickly looked away.

Rena Rouge looked at him sympathetically as Queen Bee looked at him and then Ladybug irritably.

“Well then, now that we’ve gotten the awkwardness of the day out of the way. Shall we head out?” Queen Bee asked.

“Actually, before we go,” Rena spoke up, “I was hoping that we could all agree to give some interviews with the girl who runs the Ladyblog, the public want to hear our side of things. About Hawkmoth’s disappearance etc.”

Ladybug looked hesitant, “I don’t know what else needs to be said, but if you think it’s a good idea, I guess I could answer a few questions. What do you think Queen Bee?”

“Rena has already helped me schedule a time.”

“Oh, alright,” Ladybug commented, “I’m guess that you’re giving an interview too Rena Rouge?”

“Well, I was hoping that you and I could schedule a time with her together Ladybug, I’m a bit camera shy after all.” Rena Rouge admitted as she put her hands behind herself and shuffled from one foot to the other.

“What about you Chat Noir?” Ladybug asked professionally, “would you be comfortable with giving an interview to her?”

 _An interview with Alya, all by myself. That sounds fun._ He thought, but he only nodded, still unable to deny her, “I’m sure I could spare a few minutes, as long as it’s about our hero duties.”

Rena Rouge smiled broadly, “Oh she’s assured me that she’ll ask if it’s not. Are you free after 9:00pm tomorrow?”

Adrien had to think, he only had about two hours to do whatever he needed to do after school tomorrow, a photoshoot at 6:00pm and then he probably ought to catch up on some homework when he got home around 8:00pm if things went well.

“Yeah, I have some things that I need to catch up on as a civilian, but I could spare ten minutes.” Chat vaguely answered.

“Sounds good. I’ll text you the time and place.” Rena told him.

“Don’t forget to text the rest of us.” Queen Bee insisted.

“I don’t have to text Ladybug, we know each other as civilians and I just got your email.” Rena Rouge replied irritably.

“Sorry,” Queen Bee apologized as she tossed her ponytail over her shoulder, “sometimes I forget to be civil, I’m working on that though. Friends?” She looked at Rena hopefully, and Rena just chuckled.

“Sure,” she shrugged, “I like to think that we’re all friends,” she looked at Ladybug and then Chat Noir. “We’re teammates, we kind of have to be.”

“Well then,” Ladybug interrupted, “Now that we have that dealt with, are we ready for another publicity patrol?”

“Wait, we ought to schedule our next patrol while we’re all here.” Rena offered, “it should be at a different time though, just to shake things up, I don’t know about you but I have to be home in two hours.”

Ladybug nodded. “How is 5:00pm for everyone tomorrow?”

Everyone but Chat nodded in the affirmative.

Chat quietly spoke up, “I’d have to leave after half an hour, I have something else scheduled later.”

“Well, what about an early morning patrol then too, maybe at 7:00am? I don’t know about the rest of you but school doesn’t start for me until 8:30am.” Queen Bee pointed out, “if we only made it for an hour I’d have plenty of time to get to… what’s so funny Fox?”

Rena was obviously trying not to laugh, “Ladybug is not a morning person.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes, “I was tired from fighting akumas usually and I like to sleep in.”

“You’re late to school more often than not.” The fox easily replied.

“Rena! No personal info please.” Ladybug admonished.

“Oh, come on, that’s hardly any more than we’re all in Lycee still.” Queen Bee defended.

“What makes you think that?” Ladybug asked.

“No one disagreed with me about ending patrol at 8:00am in order to get somewhere. Since 8:30am is when Lycee starts it only makes sense since College starts at 8:00am just like any further education after Lycee starts on the hour. I think it’s safe to assume we’re nearly the same age.” Queen Bee smugly explained her logic as she inspected her gloved fingers, as if checking out her nails.

“Besides Ladybug, you’re not the only teenager that has trouble waking up in the morning. That’s hardly enough information to identify you.” Queen Bee went on, “I don’t mind doing an extra patrol if the Tomcat here or the Fox can join me so you can sleep in, it would be better if we split up a few times after all.”

“Like your surprise patrol yesterday.” Chat Noir irritably mentioned.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Rena apologized, “I forgot to text you when I saw that Queen Bee was out and I just went for it.”

“I’m sorry too, I didn’t know how to contact you and honestly, I didn’t think about it either.” Ladybug looked away from him again.

He shook his head, _when will you be comfortable around me again Ladybug?_

He then shrugged and sighed, “it’s no big deal. I couldn’t have gone anyway. I have a lot to deal with in my civilian life and things have been a bit… unusual lately.” _Well, at least she, no they said they were sorry._

“Alrighty then. Patrol at 7:00am for the Fox, the Cat and the Bee, let’s meet at the Tower. Team patrol at 5:00pm with the Cat exiting a bit early at say, the Louvre. I’ll contact you all with interview times with the Blogger. Sound good?” Rena summarized.

Everyone nodded as Queen Bee grinned and ran off of the roof, “last one to the Tower is a rotten egg!”

…

They only patrolled for an hour and a half.

While it was nice to get to know the new girls, Chat had only wanted to hang out with Ladybug and make sure that everything would be okay between them, like everything was okay between Adrien and Marinette, at least it seemed to be. Marinette was still distant with Adrien, which wasn’t all that unusual, but still, she hadn’t been stuttering around Adrien either, so he saw that as progress.

Ladybug however was more stoic than ever during patrol, the new girls flocked to her side and defense if Chat Noir tried to be more than just slightly flirty with her, which really put a damper on Chat Noir’s style.

Ladybug was kind to him, but she was the first to leave. She was followed by Chat who tried to catch her to talk to her, but she was unwilling to talk to him further, so she left him in the dust.

Rena Rouge caught up to him and caught his tail and stopped him with the words, “No. You need to let her come to you.”

“But, she won’t let me talk to her.” He whined, “so is this where you come to knock some sense into me?” He asked pitifully.

Rena sighed, “No. Look, I know she won’t talk about it right now. But trust me, I know her and I’ve never seen her like this. I know it’s unfair to you but she’ll talk with you when she’s ready. I’m sorry Chat, but this is what she thinks is best. If you try to push her, well, it won’t go over well.”

He just bowed his head in defeat, “I feel like I’ve done something unforgivable by loving her.”

Unable to respond to that, Rena sighed, “Come on, I have a few minutes now that the Bugs are gone.” She sat on the ledge of the roof that they were on and patted the spot beside her as she gently asked, “is there anything you need to talk about Adrien?”

Adrien grinned, “I almost forgot that you knew.”

“Honestly, it was a bit of a mistake. The app we use to text each other lets me schedule delayed messages. I saw you answer my texts the other day and I connected the dots.”

“Were you surprised?” He looked at her quizzically.

Rena Rouge laughed, “you have NO idea!”

“Yeah, hard to believe the well-mannered soft-spoken model is the suave and sexy Chat Noir.”

“Suave and Sexy? Phttt!” Rena almost choked and he frowned, it wasn’t that funny.

“More like heroic but dorky.” She patted his knee, “you’re a sweetheart in either form Chat, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, but I feel like this is the real me, the other side of me is more of a mask that I have to wear to please my father. It’s not really me.”

“Wow, that’s pretty depressing.”

He sighed, “it is what it is as they say.”

“Do you have anyone that you can talk to about it with?”

“Well besides you, umm, maybe Marinette?” He wasn’t sure if he should mention her by name, but he was friends with her on this side of the mask and it wouldn’t hurt for his teammate to know that.

Rena Rouge hardly flinched as she answered, “the Baker girl that likes fashion?”

“You know her?” He asked, surprised.

“Kind of,” Rena Rouge looked out over the city as she held her chin thoughtfully, “I’ve done a lot of research on past akumas, she helped you with Evillustrator right?”

“Yeah, she was great. She made fun of me at the start of the night, but we’ve met a few times since then and we’ve become good friends.” He thought for a moment, “I’ve been going to see her every night for the last few nights though. We both had our hearts broken recently and just getting a hug from her makes me feel better.”

Rena Rouge looked at him blankly. “Uh huh, and why do you think that is?”

Chat shrugged, “she’s amazing and she gives good hugs? I don’t know why really. I don’t have a lot going well for me lately so I take what I can get.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, it may not seem like it on the outside, but my father isn’t very... approachable. My Princess has given me more hugs in the past few days than I’ve received from him in the past year. It’s no wonder that I don’t deal with social situations well.”

“That must suck.” She sadly replied.

“It does.” He sighed, “I ought to go, I don’t want to keep you.”

She shook her hair, “I’ll be fine. Are you going to see her again tonight?”

“Well, probably not. We had dinner with her parents before patrol. They’re really nice.”

“Really? Did they give you the ‘you better treat my daughter right or else’ speech?”

“Worse, her Papa told me how to start courting her.” He sighed.

“Worse? Does that mean that you don’t like her?” Rena Rouge gave him a strange look, “you really shouldn’t be playing with her feelings if that’s the case.”

“Ugh! There I go again! I do like Marinette obviously, why else do you think I call her Princess?” He admitted with frustration.

She looked surprised at that information but he ignored her reaction as he sighed, “she’s a wonderful and amazing girl and I don’t want to hurt her either. Neither of us are ready for a relationship and just being with her comes so naturally. I really don’t know what I’ll do without her hugs. This vacation time coming up isn’t going to be easy. I probably won’t be able to hug her at all.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard she’s been swearing off guys because of what she went through, so now she’s being asked out by guys left and right and she’s going with you on your trip!” Rena Rouge laughed heartily, “oh that is rich Chat Noir.”

She then got quiet as if she realized something, “and that avoidance thing she’s doing, does it include your alter ego?”

“Is it that obvious? I thought we were getting closer over the weekend when she was there for me, Adrien me, but I don’t know. Now she doesn’t stutter around Adrien and she is still stand offish with him, with me. I really don’t know why Chat Noir is any different.”

“Well, I guess, superheroes aren’t as threatening and you’re both dealing with something similar.” She carefully responded before giving herself a small nod before deciding to ask, “What do you think she’ll say when you tell her who you are?”

His eyes went wide as he thought about it. “Well, I haven’t really thought about that. I uh, think that Marinette would be willing to let me show her who I am eventually. But her father told me that if I decided that I wanted to see her as more than a good friend,” he coughed not so subtly into his hand, “I should only be her friend until she’s able to tell me who the green-eyed guy was that broke her heart, so I could help her get over him, I guess.” He merely shrugged.

Rena gave him a look, “you didn’t answer my question. She knows who you are under that mask, you are friends on both sides and yet she doesn’t know that. Don’t you thing that’s a bit unfair?”

He nodded, “yeah. But I don’t want to endanger her either. She hasn’t asked who I am and I don’t want to lose her, her friendship I mean, so at the moment I don’t plan on telling her that I’m the guy she used to fangirl over.”

At first Rena Rouge looked confused but then asked, “You know about that?”

“It was on nationwide television, it was kind of hard to miss.” He shrugged, “it was kind of a nice thing, having her as my fan. She’s over it though, she doesn’t have any of my professional photographs up in her room anymore.”

“Well, just be careful with her.” She warned, “It sounds like she’s in a sensitive state right now.”

He gave Rena Rouge a look, “just like I am. We’re helping each other through it though. I really don’t know what I’d do without her.”

Looking at him blankly, Rena blinked, “okay, well, I’m here too if you need to talk.”

“I don’t want to be a burden on you.”

“Is that what you think you are? You stupid cat?” Rena Rouge looked at him angrily. “You’re my teammate and if I can’t handle something I’ll let you know. Otherwise I want you to keep me updated and let me be there for you.”

“Oh, okay.” He shyly replied, his cat ears were lowered as if he’d been scolded.

“Look,” She sighed as she rubbed her forehead, “I’ve met Marinette, I think she’s the kind of girl that would want you to bother her if you needed her.”

“Yeah, she’s great that way.” His mind wandered for a moment then realized that Rena was waiting for more. “Thanks for taking some time to talk.” He stood up, “well then I ought to head home.”

“You know, I bet Marinette wouldn’t mind if you just stopped by real quick, it is pretty early.” Rena said with a grin as she also stood up.

Chat nodded, “I think I may drop by, just to say ‘Hi’ and to get a hug of course.”

“Of course, have a good night Chat Noir.” She nodded at him, gave a quick wave and then ran off.

He called out after her, “you too Rena Rouge!”

…

“Hey Purr-incess!” Chat called out as he landed on Marinette’s balcony, she was in her lounge chair again, trying to sketch something but obviously was not having much success.

She looked up as he stood up, “Hey Chat Noir!” She got up and offered to give him a hug which he gladly accepted.

“I’ve missed you Princess.” He whispered.

“I’ve missed you too. Can you stay awhile?”

“Un-furr-tunately, no.” She looked a little sad about this. “But I can for a little bit. I have to head home to get some homework and paperwork done. I probably can’t come over tomorrow either, I’ve got a lot to do in my civilian life and I have to give your friend Alya an interview in the evening, only to go home and do more homework.”

Marinette thought for a moment as she stepped away from him, before hesitantly asking, “well, after your interview, why don’t you go and get a few assignments and come over and we can do our homework together?”

He thought about it, “well, I don’t see the harm in that.” He knew the two books he was using for homework were nation wide so that wouldn’t identify him that way and his tablet wasn’t about to give him away either. He nodded with a wide grin, “well, you’ve talked me into it. I’ll come over tomorrow night so we can do homework together Princess!”

She nodded and gave him a heartwarming smile.

“Before I go though, what’s bothering you Princess?” He hesitantly asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” She exhaled, “nothing big anyway.”

He put a hand on her shoulder and calmly replied, “if it bothers you it must be something.”

She swallowed, “it’s just my best friend Alya. She, she seems to think that I need to ‘get back out there,’ whatever that means.” She even made air quotes as she said it, which he thought was adorable.

“Are you ready to get back out there?” He gently asked.

She looked down, “but that’s the thing, I’ve never really been available before, you know, been open to the idea of dating other guys, besides, well… him. It’s kind of daunting to think about really.”

He leaned on the railing, “if you’re not comfortable with it, then why is she pressuring you? Isn’t she your best friend?”

 _Alya, what are you doing? Marinette deserves better than that!_ He thought irritably _._

She nudged him with her elbow gently, “she’s my best girlfriend.”

“Oh, is there another secret guy friend in your life?” He teased.

“No, it’s just that this whole situation is just HARD because Alya seems to think the best way to stop all the guys from trying to flirt with me or ask me out is to just pick one, including giving the guy that started all of this another chance or … or for me to just fake date someone.”

“Fake a boyfriend?” He looked at her quizzically before he chuckled, “well, you are quite popular and you do have a few guy friends that may be willing to help right? But give that guy another chance?” He shook his head, “that’s probably a bad idea.”

_I’d be willing to do that probably, wait what am I thinking?_

She exhaled loudly, “that’s what I think. I’ve told her that they’ll leave me alone soon enough.”

“But?” He encouraged.

“But she made me agree that if the number of guys that asks reaches twenty by Thursday, I should try it her way.”

He frowned, “I don’t really like that Princess, you deserve so much more than being pressured into a relationship.”

She blushed slightly, “thanks Chat. But it is a choice. It’s been tough turning down guys left and right.” She took a deep breath and let it go as she pointed out, “besides, what are the chances that seven more guys are going to ask me out by Thursday?”

“Seven?” _There were only ten guys that had asked her out by lunchtime._

“Yeah, Alya is making me keep count, there’s been thirteen so far.” She admitted.

“Oh.” He didn’t know how to answer that. “Well, I hope for your sake no one asks you out tomorrow.”

She gave him a sly grin, "thanks Chat. You better get going now.”

He nodded as he held out his arms for a parting hug, which she freely gave.

He hugged her tightly once more before he let go, then hopped up on the railing and then did a double flip as he landed on the next roof top.

He called out, “Night Princess!”

Then he waved and she waved back before she muttered as he disappeared over another rooftop, “show off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus:  
> Hopefully you’ve read the precursor to this story, Ambulance. But it is here in this story that this happens behind the scenes this very evening…
> 
> Sabine quietly whispers to her beloved, “Oh Tom, they really have no idea, do they?”  
> “I’m afraid not my Darling. Are you sure we shouldn’t just tell them?”  
> “Sweetheart we can’t! Marinette has never told us for a reason, whatever it may be. Interfering now would only escalate things, they need a cooling off period. Besides we only think we know who her Kitty is, we’re only like 95% sure and if he is him…”  
> Tom sighed, “then heaven help them.”  
> Author’s note – So yes, her parents KNOW. They know all…


	4. Wednesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter -  
> Chat Noir said goodnight to Marinette and went on patrol.  
> He talked with Rena Rouge about Marinette afterwards and follows her suggestion to visit his Princess. Which is when he learns about the deal she made with Alya about having to start dating someone if 20 guys ask her out by Thursday.
> 
> This Chapter -  
> Adrien talks about his condo that needs renovations with his friends and something isn't right about Marinette.  
> Adrien admits to his photographer that he may like someone.  
> Chat Noir has an uncomfortable interview with Alya. Homework and a movie with Marinette.  
> Adrien talks with a strangely annoyed Plagg.

The patrol with Queen Bee and Rena Rouge that morning had been fun, towards the end they stopped at a school for little kids and played tag with them for about ten minutes until they had to head home to get ready for school.

Adrien was starting to understand that while the two girls would be defensive of Ladybug, they would tease him playfully, which was kind of fun. They had even encouraged the kids at the school to try to pull his tail until he was being chased by a bunch of six-year old’s across the playground.

So far, he knew that he could deal with this new team dynamic.

Before school was interesting too because Chloe began to be defensive of Marinette by flirting (badly) with every guy that came to their class to ask out the blue haired girl. Once the word got out, their classroom was a suitor free zone. The grateful look that Marinette had shot Chloe after one really persistent guy made a similar attempt really surprised Adrien.

School was okay, although it was still annoying that Marinette kept being asked out at every turn. Alya announced at lunch that the current number of suitors stood at seventeen.

 _How did Marinette even know so many guys?_ He wondered.

Adrien even asked Alya and she responded, “she probably doesn’t know that many closely, but my gurl here has always been a hot ticket item!”

That earned Alya another groan from Marinette.

Of course, his assistant Alex had reminded Adrien before school that he should stop by the condo that needed renovations to see what he wanted to have done afterwards. So, he decided to just suck it up and ask his friends for their advice.

“Hey, I’ve got kind of a weird request guys.” He asked Nino, Alya and Marinette at lunch nervously, knowing she’d be more comfortable around him if they came.

“Are you available after school? I need to go to a condo that I own and decide what needs to be done with the renovations.”

“Dude! You own your own place?” Nino exclaimed.

“Yeah.” He said shyly, “I just found out about it, it’s been managed by a trust that was set up for me. Since I’m nearly an adult I was told about it and they’re wanting more of my input about things.”

“And since building permits and construction take time, they thought you may want to design your own space, assuming that you’re going to move in one day.” Alya sagely observed.

“Something like that.” Adrien admitted. “Although I probably should stay at my Father’s until we’re done with Lycée, which is for another year.”

“If you have to renovate the whole thing, it could take that long.” Alya laughed.

“True, so are you guys available after school?” He asked hopefully as he looked towards his shortest friend, “I’d really like your input Marinette, I really don’t have any design sense.”

Everyone watched her as she slowly nodded distractedly. “Sure Adrien, what are friends for if they can’t pick out your next kitchen sink?”

That earned everyone a chuckle and that’s how they wound up taking the limo after school to see his Eiffel Tower Condo.

…

“Dudeeee!” Nino exclaimed as they entered the condo, “all of this if yours?”

Adrien blushed and swept back his hair. “Yeah, it was left to me by my Grandfather. He liked to invest in real estate. This place hasn’t had anything major done to it since before he passed.”

“Sorry man, I didn’t know.” The girls quickly agreed with Nino.

“It’s alright, unfortunately I don’t even remember him.” Adrien shrugged. “Apparently he didn’t get along well with my Father either.”

“Smart man dude.” Nino proclaimed as Alya laughed and Marinette just looked… sad.

“I’ve got to admit it Agreste, this is pretty sweet.” Alya looked over at Marinette who was now inspecting the gorgeous woodwork on the banister that led to the second level. “What do you think about it Mari? You sure you don’t want Adrien to take you out now?”

“Alya, just drop it okay?” Marinette cleared her throat, “actually I think the woodwork is lovely Adrien, but what needs to be done besides some paint and new carpeting?”

“Well, this is the first time we’ve been able to access the place since the last tenants moved out and we’re required to bring everything up to code, including plumbing and electric. Many of the rooms need to have the walls opened up just to deal with that. Alex, my assistant, said that I need to decide whether or not to take this opportunity to update everything.”

“What do you mean by everything?” Marinette carefully asked.

“New kitchen, new bathrooms, new fireplace, move walls,” he shrugged, “everything.”

“Dude, isn’t that expensive?” Nino asked.

“I’m told it’s cheaper to do it now since there is no tenant and while we bring it up to code. I’ve got a designer that I’ll be meeting with tomorrow so I don’t do anything outlandish, but I’d really like your input.” He looked at them expectantly. “Shall we take a look around?”

…

Adrien’s Eiffel tower condo was larger than Marinette’s house. It had a total of three bedrooms, 3 ½ baths, two offices, plenty of storage, two fireplaces, a large kitchen, two living areas and a nice dining room.

It only took them about ten minutes to check it out, but his friends were impressed.

“Dude, I don’t see what’s wrong with the place.” Nino insisted.

“Well, some things definitely seem like they were last century and that has just got to go.” Alya gave her best Chloe impersonation.

Nino and Adrien laughed as Marinette at least smiled.

“Ha ha, no really, should I just give the go ahead to strip it down to the studs and redo everything or what?” Adrien asked.

Marinette shook her head and finally spoke up, “don’t do that Adrien, the woodwork in the entranceway and downstairs should be saved, it’s gorgeous and would be expensive to replace. It’s a rare treat to find. The chandeliers are classic and ought to be either kept or recycled, except for the one in that purple bathroom upstairs, that whole ROOM deserves to be catacylsmed!”

Everyone laughed at that.

Marinette then added, “most everything else is outdated and if you’re trying to keep everything modern to keep the value up, you should get it done. Maybe reconsider more extensive work upstairs as it doesn’t use the space well with the current layout. I’m sure your designer can help you figure out something.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself Mari.” Alya smiled at her and Nino agreed.

“Well, I really wanted to hear your advice though, you’re so much better at design than I am.” Adrien admitted nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck, looking directly at Marinette.

She was thoughtful for a moment then shook her head sadly, “I’m not an expert in interior design Adrien, besides, I’m not the one that will be living here. You really should let that designer thresh out the details with you.” She shrugged, “that’s really all I’ve got.”

“Oh,” Adrien was surprised, she had seemed so vocal at first, _maybe its improper to ask friends about how you should redecorate?_ He wondered.

“Well, thanks anyway guys. Let’s lock up and then we can drop everyone off.”

“Sounds good dude.”  Nino gave him the thumbs up as he turned to lead a nodding Alya out the door, the door that Marinette had somehow already escaped through.

…

The ride to drop them off was strained as Alya teased Marinette, “Soooo, how many are there now?”

“Oh, not with this again!” Nino whined, “Alya, babe, please! Just let it go!”

She shot him a look before his held up his hands in surrender, “I’m just thinking about Mari.”

Alya pouted, “so am I Nino.” She looked at the somewhat bashful Marinette, “so how many guys have asked you out this week? I overheard one guy ask you out before we left earlier.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Alya! Can we please just drop it?”

“Nuh uh, you’re hiding something girl. How many?”

Marientte glanced at Adrien and then Nino for support before looking down and giving up the information as she muttered. “Twenty.”

Alya sadly smiled, “Mari, you know that I love you right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I think you need to start dating, even if it’s just a friend that agrees to fake date you.”

“But...”

Alya waived her hands, “no buts. We made a deal and while I know you’re still healing, you’re not going to get any peace otherwise. Digging yourself a moat of despair and wallowing in it isn’t healthy and you need to build a bridge back to the real world. It may not be with who you once imagined it to be with…”

Alya glanced at the guys who were barely following her so she groaned and went on, “but you will find a way to be happy someday. Maybe the only way to move on is to move on, forgive the guy and yourself and let someone in, even if you don’t think you’re ready for it since that’s the only way to find out if you are ready.”

“I don’t know why they’re all interested in me though.” Marinette answered in defeat. “I’m just… me.”

Adrien frowned, he knew about her deal with Alya, but still. “I know why Marinette, you’re smart, beautiful and amazing all around. Any guy would be ecstatic to have you as their girlfriend.” He told her earnestly, but Marinette just looked sad as she looked away.

_What did I say? I wish I could just give you a hug right now Princess._

“Thanks, I guess.” She muttered exhaustedly as they pulled up to her house first.

Opening the door like she was trying to escape she quickly called out, “thanks for bringing me along. Um, good luck with that place Adrien. Bye guys!” She waved and left.

“Cool it Romeo.” Nino quietly interjected.

“Romeo?” Adrien raised an eyebrow at his friend, “I was just being honest.”

“Less honesty then. Besides, she’s off limits to you.” Nino said almost harshly.

“What? Why? Not that I want umm but, uh, huh?” Adrien was thoroughly confused.

Nino gave his girlfriend a look, before he answered gently, “Adrien, you’re just a friend to her, who has never dated before.” He thought a moment before adding, “I doubt you could pull off fake dating her convincingly.” He looked at Alya for help.

“What? But I…” Adrien started but Alya interrupted.

“Yeah, you’re also a celebrity and Mari probably wouldn’t enjoy being followed by the paparazzi that comes with being your girlfriend if you did offer to fake date her. We… we just don’t think you’re not the best one to help her out with this Adrien.” She patted his shoulder.

Adrien merely nodded and muttered, “Oh.”

_Why is that disappointing?_

His second thought was _, why would it have to be fake? I know I remind her of Mr. Green eyes, but still… oh boy,_ he exhaled _, I can’t be falling for my Princess now, am I?_

Alya sighed, “look, I’ve gotten her to at least open up to the possibility of dating, even if it’s fake. So, don’t worry guys, I’ll figure something out.”

 _That’s what I’m afraid of._ Adrien thought sadly as he looked out the window.

…

4:57pm Quick patrol

Queen Bee and Rena Rouge were already there when Chat Noir arrived. Ladybug landed literally one moment after Chat Noir did.

“Well, now that everyone is here, when shall we have another patrol? Thursday at 7:00pm?” Queen Bee asked. “Or should we take a day off?”

“I liked that morning run this morning, let’s do that again instead and take the night off?” Rena Rouge offered. “Think you can make it Ladybug?”

“Sure, if you’re willing to risk waking me up for it.” She lightly teased her friend.

“Then I’ll be there at 6:30am with a hot pastry breakfast, fresh from the bakery.” Rena grinned.

Ladybug gave Rena Rouge a deadpanned look. “Really?”

“You don’t see me offering to do the same for the Tomcat or the Bee.” Rena Rouge shrugged. “Besides, I get the family discount.”

“I wouldn’t mind being woken up that way, but I’m usually up by then anyway.” Queen Bee smiled as she glanced at Chat Noir, “I bet you’re a morning person too.”

Chat Noir shrugged, “guilty.”

“Alright, so 7:00AM. Meet at the Tower?” Ladybug offered.

Everyone nodded.

“So, let’s get...” Ladybug started only to be interrupted by Rena.

“I just heard this from the Lady blogger, but the mayor is organizing a small festival in honor of this break from Hawkmoth’s terror on Saturday. He had hoped that everyone, especially Ladybug and Chat Noir, would show up.” She looked at the two superheroes hopefully as she added. “Besides, it would be good to introduce Queen Bee there too.”

Ladybug glared at the Fox and then groaned, “I guess he couldn’t just leave things alone could he?”

“Ladybug, you and your cat have done a lot for this city, is it wrong for the people of Paris to want to thank you?” Queen Bee sounded scandalized.

Ladybug blinked, “No, it’s just, well, I really don’t feel like celebrating right now.” She looked out over Paris, avoiding everyone’s gaze.

“Ladybug…” Chat started but he was cut off.

“Gurl! You’ve got to pull it together! A celebration is probably just what you need to distract yourself!”

Ladybug gave her a withering look, “Rena, it’s not like I can just walk around and not be recognized as Ladybug. None of us would be able to enjoy the celebration unless we went as civilians.”

Queen Bee pouted almost as much as Chat Noir did as she said, “but then we can’t go together!”

“I’m sorry Queen Bee.” Ladybug apologized.

“Queenie is fine!” She happily supplied, then she thought for a second and whispered something to Rena Rouge who conspired with her and nodded. “If we figure out a way to blend into the crowd would you come as Ladybug? Even if it’s just for part of it? That way you can spend the rest of the time with your other friends.” Queenie offered. “It could be a good team building exercise.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes after she saw the expectant and hopeful looks from all of them. “Fine. If you can figure out a way to do that, then sure, I’ll come.”

“Yeah!” Queen Bee cheered as she launched herself at and hugged Ladybug, then quickly released her.

Chat Noir smiled, he liked the Bee’s enthusiasm.

…

The rest of patrol was pretty mundane, not much happened and Adrien really had to leave early to get home for a quick shower before his photoshoot. Ladybug still had trouble looking at Chat Noir and while he knew she didn’t like being reminded of the tall blond jerk that broke her heart that apparently Chat Noir reminded her of, it still hurt that she didn’t even want to look at him.

…

The photoshoot was awful. Adrien was having a hard time pretending to be happy, suave, hot or even to want his Momma’s spaghetti or whatever that look was supposed to be. Vincent wasn’t always the best at giving directions after all.

“Five-minute break!” Vincent cried out to the rest of the crew as he quickly replaced his film, “I want to talk with you Adrien.”

“Okay…”

“What’s the matter with you? You’re acting like your Momma promised to make you your favorite meal but brought home cold greasy burgers and chips instead.”

Adrien looked at him blankly before asking, “have you ever had your heart broken Vincent?”

“Sure! Beautiful women are like a dime a dozen to this famous photographer,” he boasted as he nudged Adrien, “as I’m sure they’re falling at your feet as well, No?”

Adrien quietly replied, “maybe…but what if I don’t want a dozen girls, I only wanted one girl but she doesn’t want me, and I feel bad because I’m starting to think that I might be… I don’t know…”

Vincent looked at him carefully, “falling for another already? She must be something special to have caught the eye of our young Adrien Agreste so quickly, yes?”

Adrien nodded. “She’s amazing, but maybe, just maybe I saw her but wouldn’t let myself see her before this other girl and maybe, I don’t know... we’re friends but we’re both recovering from being rejected by someone else.”

_I know I like Marinette, I know that now, as more than good friends. But, it just seems too soon for us both and she’ll be going on vacation with me, Adrien me, not Chat Noir. The side that she seems to like. Plus, we’re going to have to remain professional, it is a working vacation after all._

He sighed, _she’s just been so distant with Adrien me lately, everything was so much easier to deal with when Hawkmoth was threatening the city._

Then he felt bad for thinking that way.

“Mr. Agreste,” Vincent addressed him, “a wise man once told me that love cannot grow unless it is shared. Does this girl that you like, maybe, just maybe, does she like you too?”

Adrien shrugged, she liked Chat Noir, so sort of. “I guess.”

“Have you told her?” He looked at the young man questioningly.

“What?!” Adrien exclaimed.

“Have you told her that looking at her is like seeing Mama bringing in the Holiday Dinner to eat!” Vincent emphasized his strange phrase with both hands.

Adrien just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“You need to tell her young man! Tell her with your eyes and then with your heart!”

Adrien almost blushed, he was in no way ready for that.

“I don’t think we’re ready for that Vincent.”

“Ahh, a hidden love! How romantic! Well then, there is only one thing to do until you are ready to tell her!”

“What’s that?” Adrien eagerly waited for some pearl of wisdom.

Vincent turned Adrien around and led him back to his position on set, “think about Adrien’s girl, Adrien’s love and how Adrien will smile as he asks out his girl while he poses for camera!”

Adrien rolled his eyes, but tried to do as Vincent asked.

They were done in an hour.

…

He’d scheduled his interview with Alya through Rena Rouge, letting her know he was available at 8:30PM.

It was… painful.

“So, Chat Noir, what do you think of Hawkmoth’s truce? Do you think it’s genuine?” Alya began.

He nodded, “we know that it is, we just don’t know what he wants from it.”

“Do you think he tried to apologize to the city with his construction improvements?”

Chat Noir thought for a moment, “I’m not sure. It is definitely different than his usual behavior.”

“What will you be doing during this break?”

“Taking a vacation obviously.” He answered easily.

“Where?”

“I’m afraid that’s confidential.” He then grinned wickedly, “although I will say that I’ll finally be able to get out of this suit.”

Alya blushed, “really?”

“Yeah, I plan to take at least one day to go to the beach, what were you thinking that I meant, Alya? Don’t you think that I would look paws-itively stunning in a swimsuit?”

“I’m pretty sure that if I took a poll you’d get high marks with that question.” Alya chuckled.

He grinned, “I know I would. I could be a model with this figure.” He briefly stood and posed for the camera.

Alya cleared her throat and continued, “moving on.” He sat down petulantly but then composed himself and smiled for the camera, “May I ask a few personal questions that have nothing to do with your identity? I took a poll on the Ladyblog and I’ve got the top three questions that everyone was interested in.”

“A poll?” He raised an eyebrow, although it was hard to see because of the mask.

“Yeah, over thirty million people voted, so these are basically the questions that everyone wants to know.” She answered hesitantly.

“Why are you asking me if it’s ok to ask them? Is it something inappropriate?” He asked cautiously with a flick of his claws.

“Well, it’s just a topic that I try to avoid since you might consider it sensitive, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. It’s just…”

“They’re the top three questions on everyone’s mind.” He stated. “And you want to ask about the details.” He sighed.

“Of course.”

He leaned back and looked to the side briefly, “Let me guess, what’s my relationship with Ladybug?”

“Well, that’s the top question actually.” Alya, answered. “Would you be willing to answer that?”

He shrugged and put on a blank face, “we have nothing to hide. We’re teammates, and hopefully friends.”

“Hopefully? Is there something wrong?”

Ashamed that he had admitted that, he kept his face as kind and as controlled as Adrien would, but his tail started twitching in irritation. “We’ve always been friends, lately with the new team members and with Hawkmoth’s truce, things have gotten a little tense, but our team is as strong if not stronger than ever before with the addition of a full time Rena Rouge and also Queen Bee. I only said hopefully because we, Ladybug and I, haven’t been able to spend much time together one on one, as friends and as teammates of late.”

He took a breath before adding, “and before you ask, there is nothing romantic between us.”

Alya looked relieved at his response.

“Moving on, will you be spending time with Ladybug during this break?”

He hardly paused at all. “Not really. We’re taking separate vacations obviously, but we’ll be monitoring what is going on in Paris. I’ll be able to return as quickly as possible if needed, I’m not leaving the continent.”

“Well, that leaves the third question, do you have a girlfriend?”

Chat Noir smiled, “I have friends that are girls, just look at our team, some would say that I’m the luckiest guy in Paris to work with such gorgeous and powerful women and I would have to agree.” He teased.

She cleared her throat. “So, to clarify, no romantic interests?”

He took a moment to reply, “none that I would admit to, it would be too dangerous Ms. Lady blogger. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Of course. So, your infatuation with Ladybug is over?”

“That’s like your fourth major question.”

She nodded, “and everyone would like to know your answer.” She then mouthed the word ‘sorry’ at him clearly, supposedly to be edited out of the conversation later.

Chat Noir blinked and then began with his ears laid low, “I’ve always admired Ladybug.” He admitted, “when we first started I would say that yes, I loved her.”

He sighed and looked away briefly before he continued, “honestly though, since we don’t know who each other are under the mask I can’t say or claim that I love her now, not romantically at least. We just don’t know each other well enough for that. We’ve grown up and as such, feelings change.”

He smiled genuinely for the camera as he said, “although, her friendship is worth everything to me.”

“That’s awfully sweet of you,” Alya commented.

He gave a small Adrien style smile to the camera as he tried to hide his sorrow as he broke his own heart with these words as he nodded, “we’re not in love and probably never will be, if that’s what you’re asking.”

….

Chat Noir knocked on Marinette’s balcony entrance. An innocuous shoulder bag thrown over his shoulder with all the homework in it that he could bring that he didn’t think that Marinette would recognize. They had two classes that they didn’t take together and a few assignments that he was fairly certain wouldn’t reveal his identity from others inside that were due tomorrow.

There was a bit of s scuffle inside and then Marinette opened the skylight window, “You’re early, come on in! I just finished cleaning up a project.”

She moved out of the way and he climbed down, closing the window behind him.

“Hey Purr-incess, how was your evening?” He tried to hide the sadness in his voice as he followed her down to her main room.

“Chat Noir.” Marinette scolded. “What’s the matter Kitty?”

He sighed, “I just had an interview with your friend, Alya.”

“And?”

“And it wasn’t easy.” He could feel the ache of the realization that Ladybug would never return his feelings echo in his heart and admitting that was hard. “I’d rather not talk about it, if that’s okay Marinette.”

She nodded, “do you need a hug?” She offered and he quickly answered her with one.

“Yes.” He muttered into her hair as he held her close. “Oh Princess, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

She stiffened at his words, but only momentarily, finally relaxing and returning his hug.

Marinette took a deep breath after a minute and stood back, with her hands on his waist and his hands on her arms as she said, “well, we can sit around and feel sorry for ourselves or we can get some homework done, then maybe hangout to distract ourselves?” She offered.

He nodded in agreement. “I’d like that.”

That’s how they found themselves sitting at her kitchen counter, each of them with one hand free to turn pages and write. It only took twenty minutes for them to be holding each other’s hand as they studied.

After an hour of homework, Marinette somehow finished before Chat Noir did. She squeezed his hand, “are you hungry? I could get us something.”

He glanced at her with a small grin and squeezed her hand back, “I’d like that.”

“We have some chocolate croquettes that I could warm up with some hot cocoa. Sound good?”

He nodded, “that sounds claws-some Princess. I should be done by the time you’ve put it together.”

She chuckled and patted his hand. “Great.” She went to the kitchen and made their snack as he finished his homework and packed his bag. He managed to get a minute in of watching Mari happily before snacks were nearly ready.

“Well, we’ve got nearly two hours until I have to kick you out.” She giggled and he smiled at her, “do you want to watch a movie or something?” She asked as she filled two mugs with cocoa.

He nodded, “I’d like that.”

“Well, what do you suggest? I have all the recent Disney movies.”

“Well, I haven’t kept up with them all, although I would like to request nothing romantic please. I’ve had enough questions about my love life to last for the rest of the week!”

“The interview was that bad huh?” She frowned slightly.

“It was uncomfortable. Why is everyone interested in everyone else’s love lives?”

She thought about it as she placed the warmed pastries on a platter and walked it to the table in front of their tv with him following with their cocoa and setting it down as well.

Then they sat down next to each other, with Marinette picking up a remote and starting the tv as she replied. “I’d like to think that people want to see something going well with someone else’s love life. It gives people hope to see that something can go right in a relationship,” she took a breath before she added, “especially for someone that they love. Not all of us get what we want, huh Chat?”

He hated to agree, “Yeah.” Seeing that she was a bit down, he scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm across her shoulders, “is this okay Marinette?”

She looked at him gratefully and nodded yes.

They decided to watch Wreck-it Ralph since they had just enough time to watch it before he had to leave. Plus, it had a Princess and a misunderstood hero, sort of.

It was nice to just hang out and not worry about things, about Ladybug, the team, Alya pushing Marinette to date and how that made him feel.

 _It’s nice to just be here with her and hold her._ He thought as his arm that was hugging his Princess gave her another squeeze during the movie. Eventually she had her head leaning on his shoulder and he had his head on hers. It was nice.

Marinette wouldn’t put it past her parents though to check in on her at midnight to make sure that he had left. So, they promptly hugged each other goodbye on her balcony at 11:59PM.

“See you tomorrow Princess!” Chat Noir called out as he lept away, doing another double flip mid jump.

“Until tomorrow Chat Noir!”

…

“Plagg!” Adrien called out as he arrived home and de-transformed.

“What is it kid? It’s not like you’ve been talking to me much these days.” Plagg grouchily replied as he griped, “just give me my cheese and go to bed.”

“Plagg, I want to know what you think I should do about my Princess, I… I think I’m starting to like her.” Adrien confessed as he handed Plagg his Camembert.

Plagg shook his head, “I’m not the best one to talk to you about this.”

“I can’t ask Rena Rouge, she’ll think I’ve moved on from Ladybug already, I’m trying, honestly I am, but I still, ugh, I don’t know, being with Marinette is just, ugh. I can’t describe it. More somehow?”

“Uh huh. I don’t see the difference, date Ladybug or Marinette, it doesn’t matter to me.” Plagg rolled his eyes as he floated in front of Adrien nibbling his cheese between bites. “You’ve just got to be careful how you do it kid.”

“Plagg, do me a favor and don’t mention Ladybug to me, especially like that. She’s not interested in me.” Adrien flopped on his bed and sighed. “Marinette however, she at least likes Chat, while she can talk to Adrien now but seems to be, I don’t know, uncomfortable around me, but that’s because my eyes remind her of the jerk that broke her heart.”

“Yeah, uh huh. You know I worry about you when you talk about yourself in third person, don’t you kid?” He snickered, “it just shows how clueless you are.”

“Plagg, I don’t need you to get after me, I know it’s my own fault for not seeing Marinette for the wonderful girl that she is already. Her behavior just confuses me though. Why do you think that is?”

Plagg rolled his eyes, “Okay, fine. Why do you think pigtails can’t talk to you but can talk to Chat Noir?”

“I don’t know, maybe green eyes like mine are more common than I think, of course I don’t get out and see many people. My eyes when transformed are more cat like and the white of them are a light green so maybe I don’t remind her of the guy that broke her heart. I haven’t met anyone besides Mom with eyes like mine though.”

Plagg grumbled, “so what else has been going on in your love life,” until he emphasized, “or lack thereof?”

“You know what Plagg, do I have to spell it out for you?”

“Indulge me.”

Adrien rolled his eyes and exhaled, “Ladybug pushed me away because she thought it was protecting me somehow, like I was falling in love with a fantasy or something. Like she thought that her being Ladybug didn’t let … I don’t know, that it doesn’t let me get to know all of her or something.”

“Yeah.” Plagg smirked, “And?"

“And my brain hurts Plagg!” Adrien groaned, “why do girls have to be so hard to understand Plagg?”

Plagg frowned, “Hey, I gave up trying to answer that question thousands of years ago when I found out that the deliciousness of Cheese would never let me down.” Plagg grinned mischievously as he added, “you should try it.”

Adrien rolled over as he muttered, “yeah, thanks Plagg. That really helps.”

_Not._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of the whole fake dating deal with Alya is that Marinette would be willing to fake date a guy if Alya drops trying to get her back into wanting to be with Adrien by pushing her to either date him, fake date him or to even consider having Marinette ask him out. All of which to Marinette is just looking for further disappointment and she is VERY against it, she’s tired of hurting and just seeing him is hard. Alya believes that if she can get Marinette to start dating someone it might wake up the green-eyed monster (pun intended) and might cause Adrien (and or Chat Noir) to want to date Mari because he’s jealous of Mr. New Guy.
> 
> Also, if it isn’t clear, Alya knows about Chat Noir visiting Mari because she’s told her about it.


	5. Day 4 - Thursday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter -  
> Adrien talked about his condo that needs renovations with his friends.  
> Alya's plan to get Marinette to start dating moves forward.  
> Adrien admitted to his photographer that he may like someone.  
> Chat Noir had an uncomfortable interview with Alya, then he did Homework and watched a movie with Marinette.  
> Plagg was annoyed.
> 
> This Chapter -  
> Chat gets surprised at the early morning patrol and learns about Carapace. Ladybug is uncomfortable as she has a one on one talk with Chat Noir and he promises her something.  
> Alya sets up Marinette with Luka.

****Chat Noir was fifteen minutes early for their early morning patrol. Queen Bee soon joined him, “Hey Tomcat! Ready for patrol?”

He shrugged distractedly, “yeah, I guess.”

“Something on your mind?” She leaned into his personal space inquisitorially.

He leaned back, feeling like that was a very Chloe move, which was disturbing in the very least. “Uh, I don’t really feel like talking about it.”

She looked him over, and waved at him. “I can see that something is bothering you, come on Adricat, spill.”

His eyes were blown wide since only one person had ever called him that before, but only as Adrien dressed as Chat Noir, sans the mask. “Chloe?”

She smugly nodded, “Yep. I’ve suspected for a long time, since that thing with Frightningale especially. You carry your feelings on your sleeve sometimes Adrien and it was **obvious** that you were uncomfortable playing Chat Noir.” She admitted as she flipped her pony tail around. “Plus, you practically just admitted who you are.” She grinned at him knowingly.

“B-but you just told me who you were too!” He sputtered.

She shrugged, “I trust you.”

“Does everyone know who everyone else is besides me?” He finally asked.

Queen Bee chuckled, “No, of course not. I’ve just known you for so long it was hard NOT to know. I’ve guessed who everyone else is but I’m willing to wait till they’re ready to confirm it. Ladybug obviously doesn’t know who you and I are or who the new guy is. I just finished having a quick training session with him. He still refuses to join the rest of us.” She shrugged, “oh well, his loss. Anyway, I want to wait until everyone loves me for who I am than for who I was, before I tell the others, you know what I mean?”

He nodded, “yeah, I can see that. You’re not going to tell anyone about me though, are you?”

“And out myself? No. We need to wait for that.” She looked off to the side thoughtfully, “some people aren’t ready for the truth.”

He sighed, “Ladybug.”

“She’s not the only one.” Queen Bee replied with a toss of her hand, “but is that what this is about? Your unhealthy crush and her refusal to even find out who you are?”

“Clo, she’s pushed me away and I’m trying to get over that. I was in love with her, but I’ve uh, I’ve got a friend that I visit as Chat Noir that has been helping me through it.” He blushed slightly.

“Was huh?” She smiled at him, “I’m here too you know. I’ve just been teasing you because I want to be more outgoing like that, but can’t be that way as the real me. It’s kind of freeing to be a superhero.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m the same way. You’re really coming into your own, it’s nice to finally see the Chloe that I knew growing up again.” He gave her a wide smile.

She paused for a moment before answering, “I’ll take that as a compliment. So, who’s this other friend? Nino?”

“I wish I could talk to him about all of this. It would be nice to talk to another guy actually.”

She blinked and then shared, “well, when you meet the other new guy, don’t hold it against him that he’s reluctant to join the team. He doesn’t have his miraculous permanently yet.”

“Why not? I thought Master Fu was okay with everyone holding onto theirs now.”

She shrugged, “from what I can gather, once he decides to join us out in public Master Fu will insist on him taking the miraculous permanently, but that means that something else is going to happen that the new guy doesn’t want to do.” She groused, “the new guy doesn’t even want to say what that is.”

“Does the new guy have a name besides new guy?”

“Well, since you’re you, I’m willing to let you in on the secret, just don’t tell the others, the new guy would never forgive me.” She paused dramatically, “it’s Carapace, like a turtle.”

Adrien thought about it, “isn’t that Master Fu’s miraculous?”

She blinked, “bingo. But the new guy is much younger, about our age if I’m right.”

“That means that Master Fu will have to give up his miraculous when Carapace joins us, won’t he?” He was both surprised and shocked.

“So that was what I was missing.” She then looked sad, “let’s not tell the others, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, thank you for trusting me Clo.”

“Hey, we’re friends, right?” She waited a second, “the others will be here in a few minutes, is there anything else you want to talk about, besides your other Chat friend?”

“Ha ha. You know her, but please don’t…” he sheepishly began to explain.

Chloe interrupted, “Marinette, right?”

“How did you know?” He looked at her incredulously.

“You like her and you trust her, whether you realize it or not. I’ve seen the signs.” She waved it off.

“Oh.” Adrien was surprised that Chloe had noticed that he kind of liked Marinette. “So, umm, do you know who the guy is that broke her heart? You seem to have caught on to everything else.” He asked sheepishly.

“Moi? I have a hunch, but I can’t tell you.” She turned her head and tossed her ponytail, “you’re close enough to her that she’ll tell you when she’s ready Adrien. But please, don’t forget her wording. She fell in love with a guy who only wanted to be friends and she broke her own heart over him. I bet she’d even say that he had nothing to do with it.”

“Wait a minute, who told you?”

“I may be working on being a better person cat-boy, but I still love the gossip.” She smirked.

“Oh. Like we don’t get enough of that from the media.” He frowned.

“That’s just part of being the exceptional people that we are. But in all seriousness, I know she ‘met him online’ and he has green eyes too.” She made air quotes with her hands to emphasize the online part.

“His eyes are probably just like yours.” She said meaningfully. “Especially with how she’s been acting differently around you, the other you I mean.”

_I know that Marinette knew the guy in person, Tom admitted it._ He thought. _But why would she want to hide that?_

“You think I remind her of him too? I mean why else would she be acting strangely around me, the other me I mean.”

Queen Bee then rolled her eyes, “I could almost swear that as a detective, you are pretty useless cat.”

“That’s not very nice Queenie.” Rena Rouge announced as she landed with Ladybug right behind her.

“Hey now, she didn’t mean anything...” Chat tried to defend Queen Bee.

But Rena angrily interjected, “Ladybug, Queen Bee just called Chat Noir useless!”

Ladybug opened her eyes like she was just waking up still, “is this true Queen Bee?”

“I uh,” Queen Bee started, not knowing what to say.

“No, it’s not.” Chat Noir defended his oldest friend as he put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “she was just teasing me with an observation of hers that’s all, she knows I’m not useless.”

“Yeah, he’s a great guy,” Queen Bee elbowed him meaningfully, “when you give him a chance.”

“Oh. Sorry for the misunderstanding then guys. So, um, it’s 7:01am already, shall we get this patrol on the road?” Rena Rouge asked.

“Wait, we need to schedule the next patrol. School lets out early for me, as I’m sure that it probably does for the rest of you tomorrow, so how about a quick patrol at 4:00pm Friday?” Queen Bee offered.

Everyone looked at each other warily. Rena shrugged and answered, “sure, why not.”

Chat Noir thought about it and realized that he was pretty booked, until 6:00pm at least.

“That would be claws-some, however I’m not available until late. Purr-haps you should do another patrol without me?” He offered.

“I could handle an hour then,” Ladybug gave each of them a nod briefly before asking Rena, “what about you Rena?”

“Sounds good.”

“So, a quick 4:00pm patrol for the girls Friday, sounds fun!” Queen Bee happily summarized, “and we can all go to the carnival together on Saturday! It’s from 4:00pm to 10:00pm and I happen to know that the mayor will be making an announcement to have it as a masquerade with the theme to dress as your favorite heroes!” She almost screamed. “We’ll win best costumes for sure!”

“That’s a long time to hold our transformations Queenie.” Chat Noir observed, “I know my kwami would complain about that. Plus, I don’t think it’s fair to join in a contest when our suits are magic.”

“Party Pooper.” Queen Bee pouted as the rest of the team laughed, but she quickly joined them with a happy laugh.

“Chat does bring up an interesting point.” Ladybug avoided looking at him as she said it. He briefly frowned.

“True enough.” Rena Rouge agreed, “that’s what makes it perfect. We can all meet up at the carnival near the carousel say at 4:00pm, hang out for two hours and then make an appearance at the stage. Don’t give me that look Ladybug,” Rena scolded seeing her friend’s annoyed face, “as superheroes we’re obligated to wave and say thank you for their support. The mayor wants to do it at 6:00pm. It’ll take five minutes, then we can leave and either go home or come back as civilians and hang out with our civilian friends. It’s a win win.”

“Then how do we hide that we’re the real superheroes?” Ladybug asked.

“Wear something with our suits that doesn’t belong or something over it.” Queen Bee answered, “Ladybug could probably get away with a purse, but I’ll have to wear an outfit, no one has seen me long enough to replicate my suit.” She pouted.

Chat patted her shoulder, “I’m sure you can figure something out.”

“Thanks,” Queen Bee then looked around, “so patrol?”

….

Patrol was a bit stifling again. Obviously, Ladybug didn’t want to talk or be too close to Chat Noir, so he merely hung his head and chose to be the first to leave at 7:55am. He said goodbye to the girls and then launched himself in another direction, only to be shocked when Ladybug herself landed in his path, forcing him to stop and talk with her.

“Chat, I know that this has been hard.” She began uneasily.

He nodded. “That it has been… Ladybug.”

She pursed her lips, “I still need some time. I’ll be back in just over four weeks from vacation, that should be umm, enough time. I can message you when I get back. I’m… I’m hoping that umm…” she didn’t finish that thought as she pulled one of her pigtails, “well, can we work on just being friends then? Maybe? P-Partner?”

He nodded with a small but hesitant smile, he was a little confused about her stuttering, it kind of reminded him of how Marinette used to act.

Of course, he knew that Ladybug had been through a lot lately and was trying to hold it together, he could see that. He hadn’t been her partner for so long without learning to read her just a little bit after all.

So, he replied, “Anything to make you happy LB.”

“I didn’t want to leave things as they have been. I’ve been worried about you.” She whispered.

“Don’t worry about this cat Ladybug.” He shook his head, “I’ll… I’ll be fine. I have another friend that is looking out for me right now.” Then his smile grew into a small smirk as he added, “until you’re ready to be comfortable around gorgeous guys like me, I’ll be waiting.”

“Chat.” She scolded.

“Fine.” He exhaled before he tacked on, “I was just teasing after all. I’m trying to move on, I promise. I’ll see you later Ladybug.” He then saluted and left, knowing that this was probably their last one on one conversation for a while.

“Goodbye Chaton.” She whispered, but he managed to hear it with his excellent hearing as he vaulted away.

Of course, he also planned on visiting Marinette again later that night after another long run to help deal with the painful reminder that was his former Lady.

…

At school, Alya was beaming and Marinette looked defeated when they met near the steps of the school.

“What’s up guys?” Adrien asked as Nino stood beside him, nodding his greetings.

“Nothing.” Marinette quietly answered.

Alya gave a small smile, “well, I’ve convinced Mari that she needs to get back out there and start dating.”

“I wasn’t dating in the first place Alya.” Marinette groaned.

“If you don’t want to do it, why are you doing it Marinette?” Adrien asked.

She gave him a blank look, “how many times have you said ‘No’ to your father Adrien? Alya is probably worse.”

“I highly doubt that. Besides, my father would never want me to be dating in the first place.” He answered honestly.

“Yeah, I bet your first date will be set up by Daddy Agreste.” Alya teased.

Adrien looked at her and he honestly asked, “how do you know that it wasn’t?”

“Say what?” His friends looked at him in shock.

Now he felt embarrassed. “Honestly Alya, I don’t know if you could call it dating though.”

Nino spoke up and slugged his arm, “you dog. What haven’t you been telling us?”

Adrien sighed, ignoring the dog comment, as he admitted, “Father had me take an ‘etiquette’ class a while back, all about how to properly go about treating a Lady and how to ask her out and court her etc.”

“Dude! Why didn’t you sign me up!” Nino asked, only to be slugged by Alya.

“You’re already taken, Dude.” She said harshly.

“Babe,” he looked at her sheepishly, “I just wanted some tips on how to treat you better, ya know?”

She blushed just a bit and then pecked him on the cheek, “you’re forgiven.”

Nino blushed as he smiled at her as he ran his arm around her waist.

“Now why would you consider a class dating?” Alya asked Adrien pointedly.

“Because part of it was to go on some fake dates, for practice. Kind of like when Father has me escort a girl of his choice at an event somewhere, it’s not really something I would have chosen to do, just part of the job, but I guess its good practice and kind of like a real date too. Someday though I want to be able to romance someone special too, which is why I didn’t object to the class in the first place.”

“Why didn’t you just tell us about it though dude?” Nino asked.

Adrien blushed, “I didn’t want you to know that I thought I needed help.”

Marinette, having been quiet this whole conversation, quietly offered, “I’m sure you would have done well on your own Adrien, if you had tried.”

_If only she knew._ He thought bashfully. _Nothing I said or did affected My La… Ladybug._

“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence Mari.” He softly answered.

“That reminds me Marinette.” Alya loudly spoke up as she pointed at the motorcycle that was pulling up to the school. “I’ve got you your solution.” Then she took off to meet it.

“What?” Marinette asked as she watched her giddy friend run off. “No! Wait! Alya!”

Adrien looked concerned as he felt like the world was shifting somehow and a heavy weight settled in his stomach. As Luka took off his helmet and helped Juleka off of his motorcycle, Adrien managed to ask, “Nino, what is Alya doing?”

Nino glanced at Adrien with a slight frown. “I imagine that she’s helping Mari get her a guy.”

“She… she can’t do that.” Adrien was about to follow the girls impulsively but Nino grabbed his shoulder and held him back.

“Dude. It’s going to happen.” Nino shook his head at his friend. “Mari has been alone for a long time moaning over a guy that wasn’t into her, that didn’t see her like that. Dude, she was devastated when she realized he wasn’t into her. She deserves a chance with someone that sees her Man.”

“But…”

Nino gave Adrien a stern look. “Look, I don’t know what the girls are going to say to him or if Mari will be dating Luka for real or not,” then he pulled Adrien around and towards their classroom, “but what I do know is that she deserves to be happy and that we’ve got to go to class.”

Adrien let him lead him away. He didn’t want to watch whatever it was that was happening behind him, especially since he knew that Luka liked Marinette. During some casual conversation, Adrien had even found out that Luka seemed to like Marinette more than Ladybug, which at the time he didn’t understand.

_I get it now though. Ladybug is the fantasy, Marinette is the out of reach reality._

Adrien knew now that if any girl could be equal to or more wonderful that the spotted Goddess herself, it would be Marinette. He sighed, feeling defeated already.

…

Alya joined Adrien and Nino for lunch. “Hey guys, mind if I join you?”

“No problem Dudette.” Nino grinned at his girlfriend, “where’s Mari?”

Adrien looked at Nino gratefully, he wanted to know, but he didn’t want to be the one that asked.

Alya sized them up, “well, after talking with Luka this morning he offered to take Mari on a ride and to take her out to lunch so that they could talk, she’ll be back in time for class.”

Adrien frowned at his food, he wasn’t hungry anymore as the pit in his stomach grew.

But he had to know, “Alya, why did you push Mari into a relationship?”

She leaned over with a smirk, “I would never, otherwise I’d have gotten her to go after Mr. Green eyes again. That was the deal. She could either give him another chance or go out with somebody to call off all the guys that want to comfort her. She chose the latter and now I can’t push her to give Mr. Green eyes another chance, for a week at least.”

Alya then looked a little defeated as she admitted, “she’s lonely Adrien, and Luka likes her, he has for a while, or haven’t you noticed?”

Adrien gulped, he had. “It’s real then?”

“Babe, stop messing with my Bro, please.” Nino added as he watched his girlfriend.

Alya huffed, “I’m not trying to, Babe.” She looked at Nino irritably before she sighed. “Look, Mari agreed to go out with Luka, that’s true. I may have told him what’s going on with her on the phone last night and I asked if he was willing to fake date her to help her out as she heals. He’s a real laid-back Dude and since she won’t go after Mr. BreakMyHeartPlease again, well, I knew that Luka could be good for her.”

Nino gave her a look, “And?”

“And he agreed to talk with Mari and take her out to lunch as friends,” she looked a little ashamed as she admitted, “for now.”

“What?” Adrien whisper shouted.

“Last night, well, Luka wouldn’t assume that dating him, for real or otherwise was what Mari wanted.”

Nino pointedly asked her, “Luka really likes Mari for real then, doesn’t he?”

Alya shrugged, “what free guy doesn’t.” Then she looked at Adrien as she said, “present company accepted.”

Adrien blushed as he whispered, “I, I like her, or at least I think I do. It’s just, ugh! Alya, why did you have to go and set her up with Luka?” He almost begged as he half stood to challenge her.

“Because right now, he’s better for her,” she angrily whispered across the table, “and you weren’t interested in her until she was going out with someone else. That’s not love Adrien, that’s being possessive. She’s your friend, we get it. But she deserves to be happy too.”

“I, I don’t know what to say.” Adrien admitted as he sat down, afraid that maybe Alya was right.

_I’m just like that guy that broke Mari’s heart, aren’t I? I didn’t notice her and I only wanted to be friends this whole time because I was so infatuated with Ladybug that I didn’t even think about her as a girl with feelings until she became close to my other side. What right do I have to dictate who she’s with? It’s not like she can be with Chat Noir that way. Not like Luka can, Ugh. How can I be so selfish?_

Adrien played with his food, lost in his own mind.

“Well then, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.” Alya finally said as she calmed down too, “so Nino, have you finished that new mix you were working on?”

…

Adrien didn’t get a chance to talk to Marinette during school and she had to rush off to help at the bakery afterwards and he had another lesson to go to. He’d have to wait to talk to her until he was Chat Noir.

….

After his lesson and a fencing class, Adrien met with his assistant Alex for a quick meeting about the working vacation then he met with his Eiffel tower condo’s designer.

The meeting with the designer went well, she basically agreed with everything that Marinette had talked about. She then asked what kind of style they were shooting for, so he just asked for a few possible mock ups that would keep the original woodwork and chandeliers. She promised to have a few possible styles and layouts ready for him to look at in a few weeks.

He asked her to email them to him while he was on his working vacation with his friends.

…

Arriving at Marinette’s balcony at 8:50PM, he found that her skylight was left open for him and he swung himself inside.

But Marinette wasn’t there.

But there WAS a plate of cookies and a note.

Chat,

Alya convinced me to go out with a friend. I’ll be back by 9:00pm if you want to come back and hang out or something.

\- <3 Marinette

_Well, at least I got a <3  _He thought as he ate two of the cookies.

Then he heard a motorcycle drive up, so he peeked out Marinette’s window and like this morning, Luka was helping a girl off of his bike, but this time it was obviously not his sister. It was Marinette.

Chat Noir couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their body language was disturbing. She seemed uneasy, he seemed laid back and confident. Then he said something that caused her to blush before he took her hand and kissed the back of it before letting go as they waved goodbye. Then Marinette came inside.

_That’s my move!_ He thought angrily.

_Wait! What am I going to say to her?_ He panicked. _I’ve got to get out of here!_

Darting through her skylight as he heard her trapdoor to her room open, he launched himself a few rooftops away.

I need to talk to someone about this! But who?

_Plagg? No, he’ll just want more cheese._

_Chloe? No, she’s terrible about relationships._

_Rena Rouge? Well, she’s better than nothing._

Hiding behind a chimney he de-transformed, to the annoyance of Plagg who just whined about mushiness and flew back into his pocket for a nap as Adrien pulled out his phone to text Rena Rouge.

TomCat: I need your help! I don’t know what to do!

Apparently, she had her phone in her hands already since she responded within seconds.

Foxy: Hold on there Tiger, what’s the matter?

TomCat: Its my Princess, she’s.. Ugh, I wish I could just talk to u about this, r u available?

Foxy: Sorry, I can’t rgt now. My gurl is talkin to me about her new guy.

His first thoughts went to Ladybug, but he shook it off. _Rena has to have more girlfriends than her and frankly, even though it hurts, my Lady, no Ladybug! She deserves to be happy too._

Foxy: I can text at the same time though. What’s wrong with your girl?

Adrien gulped.

TomCat: That’s the thing, she’s not my girl, but she went out with another guy, I saw her come home, his kissed her hand (my move by the way!) and when she came home, I panicked! I don’t know what to do!

Foxy: She went out on a date, u saw her and panicked because u thought she’d see u watching?

TomCat: Sort of. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, my stomach’s upset, my heart is racing, I just want to knock that guy off his bike and tell him to stay away, that’s not rational!

Foxy: lol, no that sounds like … no you’ve got to figure this out yourself. How do you feel?

TomCat: Annoyed, upset, angry, protective, I want to be the one there for her!

Foxy: So, you want to be in this guy’s place?

TomCat: yeah.

Foxy: which means that you’re… ?

TomCat: I’m….I don’t know, I’ve never felt this way before!

Foxy: Never? How did u feel when Ladybug told u she had somebody? There is a name for it, admit it Cat you’re…

He gulped as he realized it and typed it.

TomCat: I’m jealous, aren’t I?

Foxy: Bingo!

Foxy: Now what are u going to do about it?

TomCat: What can I do, he’s won.

Foxy: That’s not the superhero I know, since when do u give up so quickly?

TomCat: Things change Rena.

Foxy: Somethings shouldn’t. Your love for LB was sweet if you ask me. If it wasn’t for Mr. Tall Blond and Handsome, you probably would have wound up dating.

TomCat: I doubt that.

Foxy: It was her relationship or lack there of that caused her to push U away. She didn’t want to put u though what she had put herself through. In a way that means that she cares, maybe not the way u wanted her to, but still, she does care about u Cat.

TomCat: Thanks, but now I’m having feelings for my Princess too and I don’t know what to do, I don’t know if I’m over Ladybug, I don’t know if I ever will b.

Foxy: She was your first crush, it’s ok to still have feelings for her, sort of. U need to turn those feelings into memories and move on. Do u think your Princess likes u too?

TomCat: She likes Chat, she’s friendly with me but uncomfortable because of the eyes.

Foxy: So I’ve heard. What are you going to do about all of this?

TomCat: That’s why I’m texting u!

Foxy: ok, here’s my advice. Ask her about it. About him and about U. What does it all mean to her. Communication is key Cat. Ask her if she’d ever give u a chance like that etc.

Adrien swallowed, the fox was right.

TomCat: Okay, I’ll go talk to her. Thks 4 your help.

Foxy: No Prob. Now go get her TomCat!

…

Landing on Marinette’s balcony, he heard her put down something as she muttered in an annoyed voice, “Alya.”

“Purr-incess!” He called down to her through the open skylight.

“Chat! It’s good to see you!” Her face lit up as she grinned at him when she saw him, shooting her a grin back, he flung himself into her room, landing beside her bed.

Standing up in front of her he opened up his arms and she ran into them, feeling at ease as soon as she wrapped her arms around him.

He chuckled at her eager reaction, “I’ve missed you too Princess.”

Then she sniffed.

“What’s the matter Marinette? Please tell me.” He coaxed.

_He better not have hurt you_ , he hugged her tightly at the thought. _Luka._

Adrien fought the urge to growl.

She sniffed again as she pulled away from him, “I don’t know if I’m making a mistake Kitty.”

“Oh? What happened?”

“Alya.” She gave him a dark and pouty look, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Stop laughing! It’s not funny!”

“It kind of is, isn’t Alya your best friend?” He sat down on her chaise as he cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, maybe? Although lately she’s been making me want to reconsider that.” She whined as she sat down in her desk chair across from him.

“Why is that?”

“She’s been pressuring me lately about moving on because of all the guys that won’t leave me alone, it’s like I’m one of those bug lights to single guys out there, hello come to the light so I can burn you! Ugh!”

“Has it been that hard turning down so many suitors?”

“Chat you have no idea!”

He chuckled at that, he’s had dozens of fans chasing him as a civilian after all.

“There was even a group of Chinese tourists that my mother over heard in the bakery complimenting me and all of them asked her if she would consider letting me date them!”

He laughed, “well, you are kind of irresistible.” He smirked, “Purr-incess.”

“Not you too!” She held her hands to her face. “Chat, I thought you understood!”

“Well, I could use some claw-ifcation. I know you’ve had your heart broken by some green-eyed guy, I have no idea who he is, but I also know that it’s hard to just turn off your feelings. So, my question is Marinette, why are you dating if you’re not ready?”

Resting her arms on the back of her chair, she rested her head on them as she sighed and looked at him as she admitted. “It’s Alya. She’s convinced that to get some peace of mind I need to be seen as being ‘taken’ somehow. She was also trying to get me to give the green-eyed guy another chance, but, well, I don’t see how that would end well. I was crushing on him for years Chat, years! And he never noticed!”

“Years? Do your friends know this?”

_Who could he be? Maybe it’s a guy I don’t know at school? Maybe someone she met before she met me?_ He thought as he tried to figure out who he was.

“Apparently everyone knew on some level that I carried an unrequited torch for this guy, that’s why I’ve got guys climbing out of the woodwork now supposedly. Alya says I’m putting off some sort of pheromone that says, ‘here I am! I’m available now! I’ve got so much love to give so come comfort my broken heart!’ Ugh!”

_Boy is she cute when she’s frustrated._

Adrien smiled at her kindly, “well, having been a recipient of your kindness, I can’t disagree.”

“Chatttt!” She whined, “that’s how she talked me into this deal of hers.” She took a deep breath, “She agreed not to try to get me to give Mr. Green Eyes another chance for a while if I started dating an ‘approved by Alya’ guy to either fake date me or…” She exhaled. “I can’t say it Chat. It’s just, the guy I was crushing on for so long, he doesn’t deserve this! I can’t help that it’s changed our relationship somewhat. I know he doesn’t like me that way and just thinking about giving him another chance makes me feel like I need to prepare for disappointment. Besides, he’s got someone else he likes.” She looked sadly at the floor.

“How do you know? Did he tell you who she was?”

“No, not in so many words.” She frowned, “but he did say that there was someone else and he didn’t have to say it, it was obvious that he loves her, whoever she is. I doubt she even knows how lucky she is. Honestly, he invited me to go do something with some friends but then told me about her and he was worried that I had taken the invitation because I hoped that it meant something else.” She closed her eyes, “he wasn’t wrong, but I denied it. He didn’t want to hurt me so I put the hurt on myself, I guess I haven’t been handling it that well.”

“Well, that’s very noble of you, I guess.”

“Yeah, but being noble is heartbreaking sometimes, if I had to do it again, I don’t know if I could do it. Besides, I’m ashamed at how I’ve been behaving since.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve been pushing any guy that reminds me of him away Chat, all guys even.”

“Not me though.” He looked at her thoughtfully.

“No, not you Chat. I know you love Ladybug above anyone else.” She glanced up at him briefly, “You’re my friend and I know you’re not interested in me, so you’re safe I guess.”

“What if I don’t want to be?” He asked breathlessly.

“Huh?” She looked at him in shock.

“Maybe I don’t want to play it safe anymore.” He swallowed as he decided he needed to admit it to her as well as to himself, so he got down on his knees before her and he took her hand gently, “I like you Marinette, I may even love you.”


	6. Day 5 Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter:  
> Chat learns about Carapace and he's surprised that Chloe is Queen Bee, he is the first on the team to know.  
> He promised Ladybug he was trying to move on, and he had a friend helping him with that.  
> Alya set up Marientte and Luka and they went out together.  
> Chat Noir got jealous and had a talk with Mari and told her that he liked her & maybe even loved her.
> 
> This Chapter:  
> How the rest of that conversation went.  
> School isn't fun.  
> Final measurements and planning for working vacation with his friends.  
> Another nightly visit with Marinette.

Adrien woke up earlier than usual, his memories of last night were happily haunting him.

He had confessed to Marinette that he liked her, and that he may even love her…

She looked at him kindly, allowing him to hold her hand while she covered her mouth prettily with the other hand as she took in the news.

“You… you like… me?” Her eyes were full of disbelief.

 _How can you think so little of yourself Princess?_ He had wondered.

He had nodded and repeated himself, “I’ve been feeling stronger about you every day Mari. I don’t know if it’s love just yet for sure, but I do know that I like you, as more than just a good friend.” (author’s note: FINALLY)

“Like, attracted to me like?” She clarified, finally placing her free hand on top of his hand.

Adrien, Chat Noir, had nodded, “yes. It’s hard not to. You can imagine that I’ve been fighting these feelings, can’t you? After what we’ve both been through recently? But the worst part is that I don’t know if I’m ready to move on or if you are either.”

She had swallowed then before she answered carefully, “yeah.”

“I don’t want to push you Marinette. I’ll admit that I’m jealous of that guy that brought you home.”

She sighed and squeezed his hand, “His name is Luka. He’s a friend…”

He frowned. “Friends don’t look at you that way Marinette.” She looked surprised.

Looking away, she muttered, “some friends do Chat Noir.”

“Do all of your guy friends look at you that way?” He carefully asked.

She looked up and thought about it, “no, only a few. One of them was one of the guys that had asked me out recently.” She lightly chuckled, “he was quite sweet, but I had to let him down,” she sighed, “just like all the others.”

“What’s the difference between him and Luka?”

She thoughtfully answered, taking her hands away from his as she leaned back and he felt the loss of her touch immediately. Then she tapped her chin with one finger. “Alya talked with Luka, and he understands that I’m not ready to be in a relationship but he wanted to help me.” She bashfully admitted, “but I’ll admit that he is being awfully sweet about it.”

“Oh?”

“He said that we could test the waters and go slow. He wants us to remain friends no matter what. He, he has a way with his words and his music.”

_What did he say to you Princess? Talking about him seems to… distract you?_

She sighed, “I agreed to date him casually so I could honestly say that I’m seeing someone to discourage all the suitors I’ve been having lately. He… he said that he wanted me to find out what it would be like to have a boyfriend, even if we’re not kissing each other on the lips or anything.”

“He kissed your hand earlier.” Adrien noted with irritation.

“Well, yeah. Sometimes gentlemen do that Chat, or gentle-cats for that matter.” She teased.

He cleared his throat. “So, what does casually dating mean to you exactly?”

“It’s the earliest stage of dating I guess, where you’re not exactly committed to each other, but you’re not kissing each other on the lips either. I would be fine with him taking another girl out at this stage, or he’s fine if I wanted to go out with another guy, that’s what we agreed on. Although Luka said he didn’t mind if people thought more was going on between us and he suggested to leave that open to interpretation.” She blushed a bit about that.

“Oh?” He tried not to say that darkly.

“Yeah,” she said with embarrassment, “he’s kind of being protective of me. It’s sweet I guess, he even told me that if he wanted us to be more, he, uh…”

Adrien looked down, trying to not let his mixed emotions about that show, he whispered, “it’s okay to tell me.”

She swallowed before she blurted, “Luka said that he’d kiss me on the lips and mean it if he wants us to be… more.” She quickly explained, avoiding Chat Noir’s eyes.

He had stopped breathing for a moment, _Luka plans on kissing her when he wants them to be…more?_

She covered her face in embarrassment briefly, but when she looked up, she looked at her wall. “I don’t know if I’m ready to get over him yet, the guy with the green eyes,” she said gingerly, “although I’ve been trying to. Having a crush like that is painful, especially when you’re reminded that it’s destined to fail, and I have been reminded over and over for years. Some people are just hard to give up, you know? Even when you never had a chance.” She sighed bitterly.

“I know what that’s like Princess. Remember?” Adrien cocked his head and she glanced at him.

“Yes, I remember.” She said solemnly as she swallowed and sadly added, “I’m sorry I wasn’t being mindful of your feelings Kitty, I wish it hadn’t been so painful.”

Her eyes were wet but then she returned to looking at her wall of photographs of her friends, her favorite designs etc.

 _Maybe I should look closer at that, maybe there’s a picture of the jerk up there._ He thought.

“It’s fine Princess, you didn’t mean to hurt me.” He whispered as he went over and hugged her. “I’m fine, really, I just… want you to be happy.”

She sniffed, “I don’t know what I did to deserve you Kitty.” She hugged him back.

“Princess, do you want to be in another relationship?” He asked carefully as he released her and sat across from her again.

She sniffed again, “I am tired of being alone, isn’t it obvious?” She choked as she wiped her eyes. “Alya is pushing me to move on, I know she means the best, but, uh, I don’t know.”

He sighed, “so, if it weren’t for Luka, would you consider me?” He held his hand to his chest briefly as if her being with Luka broke his heart.

Getting out of her chair, she sat beside him and put her hand on his knee. “Chat, Kitty, I don’t even know if I’m ready to be in a serious relationship yet.”

“Then why Luka?” He waved his hand, insistently.

“I’ve already answered that. We may be going out, but it’s not serious.” She shook her head.

“Not yet, but he’ll fall for you soon enough if he hasn’t already Marinette and then I’ll have lost my chance.” Adrien clarified. “You have no idea how wonderful you are, don’t you?”

Marinette gave him a sweet smile and then she looked down at his hand now holding hers on his knee. Having not noticed that he had put it there or that he had wrapped his other arm around her in the last minute, she realized how everything was so natural between them.

“You, you really want a chance?” She asked.

He nodded slightly, as he winked at her. “Yes, but only when you’re ready.”

“How, how will you know when I’m ready?” She asked hesitantly.

“Well, honestly, I’m hoping you will know when you are and you’ll let me know.” He said nervously as he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “You see, I promised your father that I wouldn’t date you until you were ready to tell me about your green-eyed guy who is so obviously blind,” and it was then that he saw how mentioning him bothered her. “So… so I could help you get over him I guess.” He quickly added.

She stiffened at his words and looked away. “I don’t, I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Of course, you can’t, because you’re not ready to move on, not yet anyway. Telling me or anyone really is probably like admitting that you have moved on. I understand Marinette, I understand that in a way it feels like cheating on your crush, but that’s all they ever were to us.” He brought her hand to his mouth and gave it a brief kiss. “Look, if dating Luka is what you need to do,” Adrien swallowed his jealousy, “then do that. But keep in mind, you do have options, over twenty of them now.” He teased.

“Oh, Kitty.” She sighed.

“Think about it Princess. I don’t want to change our current relationship until you want to, just know that I’d like you to consider me when you are ready to truly move on. Will you do that?”

“But you don’t want to date me until I can tell you about…” she swallowed, “him?”

He nodded, “I’ve been told that your first crush will always have a special place in your heart, even after you’ve moved on. That’s how I’ve been thinking about Ladybug lately, or have been trying to anyway and while I do that, I keep thinking about being here with you. We have to be willing to turn those feelings we have for our crushes into memories first, then we can move on to something better.”

She smiled at him as she teased, “and you think that’s you alley cat?”

Placing his hand on his chest in mock offense, he answered, “Purr-incess! You wound me!” Then they both laughed.

He then hugged her as he whispered, “will you think about it Princess?”

She bashfully nodded into his shoulder, “yes, of course I will Chat. I will.”

…

Adrien had been elated for the rest of the time that they spent together, although it wasn’t much different than the last several days. They did a little homework since he had brought his reading with him and then they talked about anything besides relationships, had some snacks and wound up hugging each other somewhat in front of her living room tv as they watched a movie together.

She also mentioned that she’d be going out to lunch with Luka again today, she almost seemed ashamed about it. He tried to accept the news peacefully, but it still upset him and Adrien hoped that he had been able to hide his jealousy, for her.

But then he had to leave and she had to tell him that she’d be out late with her friends to plan some of their vacation together, tonight.

Of course, he knew that, but he couldn’t admit it. He knew it had to be done, but at least it was a chance for her to learn to relax around his Adrien side.

He was one of her friends after all as his civilian self and he hoped that when she was ready to tell him about this guy, she’d be willing to forgive him once he told her who he was. He wasn’t going to make the mistake he made with Ladybug.  

 _Wow._ He hadn’t realized it, but he **wanted** to tell Marinette who he was.

Their goodbye started out predictable.

He hugged his Princess a bit too long before he let her go, not that she complained.

He’d taken Marinette’s hand to kiss it goodbye, but somehow, it hadn’t felt like enough. So, as he pulled her gently towards himself he brushed her cheek briefly with his lips.

“Goodnight Marinette,” he nodded at her once, pleased that his kiss could cause her to blush and added with a whisper, “Princess.”

She smiled at him charmingly, and whispered back, “Goodnight Kitty.”

Then he saluted and did some amazing acrobatic moves as he headed out, he liked showing off for her, because he could hear the echo of her giggle behind him.

Oh, he was falling.

Falling hard for her.

Adrien already knew that this vacation that they were planning on wasn’t going to be easy for him. He already knew that he’d miss the good friendship or whatever it was that was between the Princess and her Cat. But he didn’t know how he’d be able to bring along Chat Noir or get away as him yet either.  Ah, such is life.

…

School was rough.

After Luka dropped off Juleka, Luka went over to talk with Marinette. After a few minutes of holding her hand, he led her away from the group. Then he wrapped his arm across her shoulders staking his claim and leaned in to whisper something into her ear. Marinette blushed slightly.

Adrien lost control for once in his life and crushed the energy drink that he had just started to drink and made a mess on the sidewalk, soaking his arm with the fizz from the crushed can.

Thankfully Nino quietly led him inside to get cleaned up and no one realized why his drink exploded all of a sudden.

…

There were also copies of one of those annoying celebrity news magazines floating around school too. Once again, it claimed that Adrien had finally fallen in love and it speculated on who she was.

Someone must have overheard his talk with Vincent or how vocal he was as he teased Adrien about ‘his girl’ during the last photoshoot, but he just couldn’t hold it against him though. It had been one of the best and easiest photoshoots he’d done in a long time. He didn’t regret that he was starting to fall for Marinette and had shared that joy, even if it was vaguely.

Marinette looked sad today too, she had a copy of the magazine just sitting on her desk and when she saw it, Chloe angrily ripped it off Marinette’s desk, startling Marinette nearly to tears. Chloe then tossed said magazine in the trash. “That is where trash goes Marinette, don’t let it stink up the classroom on your desk, ok?” She then glanced as the disturbed Marinette and sighed, “you’re just being ridiculous, utterly ridiculous, you know that right baker girl?”

Marinette sniffed, “yeah, th-thanks Chloe.”

Adrien was about to say something to Chloe to leave his Marinette alone when Chloe went back to Marinette’s desk and put her hand on her shoulder. “Hey, no guy is worth this. You’ve got that musician guy now right?”

Marinette just blinked at Chloe.

“Well, he’s not half bad. Let him treat you right k?”

“Sure, thanks Chloe.” Marinette muttered.

Chloe nodded, “of course.” She then stood up and looked around the classroom, all eyes on her, shocked that she had tried to comfort Marinette of all people, “what are you looking at?”

Proud of his friend, Adrien looked away, thinking that Marinette was feeling guilty about dating Luka instead of giving Mr. Green Eyes another chance and she probably didn’t want to see his own green eyes right now.

 _Boy, it’s difficult just being a distant friend_. He thought. _Hopefully we can be closer friends on our vacation together, somehow._

…

Alya and Nino were talking happily during lunch and Adrien decided he should give them a break from his being a third wheel again today since Marinette was out with Luka again.

Barely able to eat for some reason, Adrien dumped the rest of his lunch and snuck out of school to do a quick patrol.

He wished he hadn’t.

Because he got to see Luka dropping off Marinette when he came back. But instead of kissing her hand, Luka gave her a quick hug as he leaned down and kissed her on her forehead.

Adrien was livid and decided to spend the last ten minutes running as fast as he could, trying to forget what he had seen.

Plagg didn’t even complain when he had de-transformed finally. He just took his cheese and shook his head muttering about “stupid humans,” as he went to eat in Adrien’s pocket since they were almost late to class.

…

School let out early, but Adrien had another photoshoot to do. Thankfully it was the last one before their working vacation and the last one that Nathalie had scheduled.

She had been released from the hospital this morning too, his father had insisted that she stay in the guest room at the mansion and had hired a nurse for her for the next few days. So, Adrien was able to knock on her door and see that she was doing much better after the photoshoot.

She mentioned that she and his father would be going to the New York office for the next few weeks, maybe more, starting on Sunday. Adrien didn’t mind since he would be out of town too, but it was nice to know about it though.

His father had come in then to check on Nathalie himself. He shocked Adrien when he offered to have sandwiches made for them for an early dinner so that they could hang out with Nathalie in her room.

Adrien readily agreed.

Despite his father looking tired and worn out, they still had a good conversation in the unusually laid-back atmosphere by Nathalie’s bed. They discussed Adrien’s plans for his working vacation and the photoshoots he’d lined up. His father even graced him with a small smile about it and Adrien assumed that he was doing well on organizing his schedule, at least so far anyway.

Afterwards Adrien actually spent an hour practicing the piano, he didn’t know how well he’d be able to keep up with his extracurriculars while on vacation after all. But then it was time to go and collect his friends for a final fitting and a discussion about the vacation.

…

It was nice riding in the limo to pick everyone up. Alya was at Nino’s and then they went and got Marinette.

Marinette still seemed off though.

“Sooo,” Alya asked, “how was your dates with Luka?”

“Dates?” Nino asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah! He took her out last night to some dance hall and this afternoon for lunch he took her to a café today!”

Marinette pulled into herself and took a steadying breath as she turned towards Alya and said, “it was nice actually Alya. We went dancing yesterday, they had quite the mix but it was all pretty fast. He even introduced me to swing dancing and country line dancing of all things.” She then smiled for her friends, “it was fun.”

Adrien gripped his knees, he definitely didn’t like hearing about her going on dates with Luka, or that she had fun hanging out with him. Although he had heard about it somewhat as Chat Noir already, hearing it as just Adrien was difficult to say the least.

Nino glanced at his friend and elbowed him, “Dude!” he quietly chastised the model and Adrien was reminded to calm down and to let go of his knees.

Alya beamed, “That’s wonderful Mari! Isn’t that just great guys?”

Nino calmly answered, “sure Dude. Glad you were able to have some fun.”

Adrien merely nodded in agreement before he changed the subject.

“Well, we’ll be meeting Alex at Gabriel headquarters to review our preliminary schedule for our working vacation in a few minutes.”

“Dude, how tight of a schedule is this going to be?” Nino asked warily.

“Well,” Adrien started, “Monday isn’t so bad. We’re taking the company jet to Genoa and after landing Alex will oversee the unloading of equipment, clothing and such as we are driven around town for some casual shots before lunch. Then we have a small photoshoot, then we’ll be driven to the Genoa estate and we’ll have dinner there and then have some time to relax.”

“That’s a vacation?” Alya bluntly asked.

Adrien shrugged, “well, for me it is, it’s one less photoshoot than Natalie would have scheduled for the day and really it’s best to schedule them early in the week to prepare for the eventual weather delays. If we’re lucky though, there won’t be any and we’ll have most of Thursday free. Friday night that week is my father’s fashion show that I’ll be walking in.” Adrien looked a little thoughtful. “We’ll be busier at the start, but if we keep to the schedule, we’ll have more time for fun.”

“So, we’re working most of the time Dude?” Nino asked.

“Yep, that’s why it’s called a working vacation.” Adrien answered, “We get more time off if things go the way we plan them to but something always goes wrong and causes delays.” He shrugged, “I hope that we’re lucky and we won’t need much of the extra time making up for lost time.”

“Well, I know that my gurl is pretty lucky.” Alya slapped Marinette on back and she just rolled her eyes.

“If I’m so lucky Alya, why am I the class klutz?”  Marinette asked.

Alya leaned over and whispered in her ear, Marinette just blushed. “Alya!”

Alya snickered and waved off her reaction, “Mari you’re fine when you’re paying attention and not being distracted.” She practically sang the last part.

Adrien could only wonder what that meant.

…

After arriving at Gabriel headquarters, Alex led them to one of the meeting rooms. Alex, of course, took the lead.

“We have everything scheduled for the first two weeks, you ladies will need to choose a third dress tonight as there will be three formal events during that time. Mr. Agreste, Adrien’s father, will choose what is best for the young men to wear to match.”

Alya grinned, “score! It makes me wish that I could stay longer than the first two weeks though,” she looked around at the group. “But Mom and dad need me to watch over the twins while Nora is off at summer training.”

Nino looked slightly sad, “I’ll miss you Al.”

“I know.” She smirked at him and patted his hand, Nino blushed slightly and smiled. “But I’m sure you three will do well without me.”

Nino looked a little uncomfortable, “I’ll probably have to come home on the third week though, I don’t know for sure yet.”

“That’s fine Nino, I appreciate however much time you can give us.” Adrien easily replied. Then he cast a glance at Marinette, “will you be okay if it’s just you and me Mari?”

Adrien didn’t miss her swallowing before answering carefully, “my parents said that they trust me but they want me to make that decision when Nino has to come home, after talking with them about the setup with the chaperones and such.”

“Well, the timing isn’t too bad.” Alex interrupted, “Adrien’s father has developed a new outdoor informal line that we’re hoping to cross promote with a chain of famous dancing halls. Adrien will be meeting with them and will be taking dancing classes with a female model that he’ll be modeling with for many of the photoshoots related to that.”

“Do I know her?” Adrien asked warily, knowing that some models were divas like Chloe sometimes could be, or worse, and he really didn’t want to deal with that.

“Your father is speaking with our collaborators about arranging who she will be, it is likely you won’t know her name until she meets up with you for one dance class before your first shoot together for the campaign. All of you are scheduled to take dance classes together before hand to help Adrien to prepare.” Alex informed them. “The female model will make a decent companion for one of the charity events after Alya returns, while Nino may escort Ms. Dupain-Chang, if it comes to that.”

“Is that okay with you guys?” Adrien looked from Marinette to Nino, both of which nodded in approval.

Alex handed out a tentative schedule, “if the collaborative campaign goes through, there will be a total of about sixteen photoshoots during the month, some small and short and some longer, including two which include commercials. Three Fashion shows and four charity events as well. Of course, due to being so busy, you will all be going to a nearby spa for massages and manicures etc about twice a week.”

Marinette perked up and Alya gleefully hopped up out of her chair, “we’re going to a spa!”

Nino rolled his eyes, “well, I guess I can go if that’s what you want me to do, it’s not very manly though Dude.”

Adrien grinned and chuckled, he liked seeing his friends like this, “Nino, trust me, after sticking to our schedule, you’ll see how necessary those trips can be.”

“I don’t care! I want to get a crazy color of nail polish!” Alya exclaimed as she sat down, “I know, we can all get hero themed nail polish!”

“You’ve got heroes on the brain Alya.” Marinette teased.

“Well, you’d look great with Ladybug red, oh, no, I’ve got it! We’ll give you black nail polish with green paw prints Mari!” Alya joyfully proclaimed.

Marinette giggled, “Alya!” she protested, but Adrien noticed she wasn’t upset at the idea of wearing Chat’s colors as a slight blush joined her freckles and for some reason, that pleased him and he blushed slightly as well.

Alex cleared his throat, “all bold colors should be regulated until the second Wednesday manicure, as there are no major events until the next spa day.”

Alya whined, “fine. I can wait until then.” Everyone chuckled at her pout.

“Very good.” Alex commented, “speaking of which Adrien, we still need to schedule a manicure and hair cut before your flight, would you like to bring along your friends?”

Adrien had a sneaky suspicion that this offer was his father’s doing to get them all cleaned up before the trip, but seeing Alya’s and Marinette’s joy of getting pampered professionally and Nino’s annoyance, Adrien stated, “Well, I wouldn’t mind. Would Saturday morning work? It would only take about two to three hours if we go to the spa and then we can get a massage too.”

Alya stood and slammed her hands on the table, “Alex! Book it!”

Marinette and Nino just looked at the eager girl in shock, knowing that no matter what plans they had, they had just been changed for them.

Alex raised an eyebrow and looked from Alya to Adrien, who just laughed, “you heard the lady. Book it, for all four of us.”

“Very well,” Alex took a moment and then told them, “you’re all scheduled for haircuts, manicure’s, pedicures and a massage Saturday morning from 8:00AM to 10:30AM. Adrien can pick you all up at Ms. Dupain-Cheng’s at 7:30AM.”

Alya snickered and whispered, “Mari, he’d figured you out already! We all know that you’ll be the last one ready to go!”

Alex answered in a monotone, “of course I have, I am a professional.”

Everyone at the table broke out laughing.

…

Then they had final fittings for their first weeks’ worth of clothes, which would be packed for them and would be waiting on the plane Monday. His friends were amazed at his father’s generosity and Adrien politely accepted their thanks knowing it was just his father’s way of making sure everyone around him projected the right image for the company.

 _Oh well, I’m not going to complain. At least they’re all coming with me for the first two weeks at least._ Adrien thought. _Hopefully Marinette will be comfortable staying for the rest of the trip after Nino has to go home too._

…

After stopping at a drive through for a late-night snack, they just drove around Paris for twenty minutes before dropping off everyone at their respective homes.

Adrien learned that Marinette was expected to spend the last hour of the carnival with Luka, his band had a previous engagement but would be playing at 9:00pm on the stage before Jagged Stone’s finale at 9:30pm, when Luka would be able to meet up with her after packing up his guitar.

Alya, of course, teased Marinette about that.

Nino rolled his eyes and Adrien folded his arms and looked out the window, as he tried not to be jealous, once again.

…

It was 9:40pm by the time Adrien got home.

But with a quick transformation, after the promise of an extra serving of camembert for Plagg, Adrien was jumping over rooftops as Chat Noir until he landed on Marinette’s roof.

Marinette was there waiting for him on her balcony, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the breeze blowing through her now loose hair. She was humming something that almost sounded familiar too, but Adrien couldn’t place where he had heard it before. Still, she looked and sounded like an angel under the moonlight.

Adrien enjoyed the view for a few minutes before finally jumping and landing soundlessly behind her.

Walking up to her like his namesake, before he could surprise her she said, “hello, Kitty. Miss me?”

She wiped her eye and then turned to him slightly, looking over her shoulder. “I don’t know if I’ll be the best company tonight.”

Noticing that she had been crying he asked, “Princess? Why were you crying?”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing.” She answered as she looked out at the view.

Wrapping his arms around her middle from behind, he rested his head on hers as he pointed out. “If it’s bothering you, it isn’t nothing Marinette, it’s something. Tell me what’s going on.” He pleaded, “let me be there for you.”

She took a deep breath and then wrapped her arms over his own. It was a new kind of hug for them, but it was just as effective. “You are here for me Chat, thank you, but I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Does it have to do with him? The guy that hurt you?”

Shaking her head, “Chat Noir, I’ve told you, I was the one that was silly enough to fall for a guy that didn’t, no, couldn’t, see me like that. At all. It really wasn’t his fault.”

“He should have seen that you liked him and said something.”

“Chat,” Marinette turned around in his arms and trailed her hands up his arms and rested them on the back of his neck like they were slow dancing. He was almost too distracted to listen to her, “Chat.” She repeated. “Mr. Green Eyes, as Alya likes to call him, really wasn’t at fault. I realize that now, it was my own blind crush that was, he just wants to be friends and I’m trying to respect that, and I’m trying to move on.”

As he held her tightly in his arms she whispered, “really I am.”

He couldn’t help himself, he leaned down until their noses met and he briefly rubbed her nose lightly with his own. “I still don’t see how anyone could be so blind as to not see you or fall for you Marinette, once they got to know you.” He then blinked at her lazily, “you know, I really like your freckles Mari.”

She chuckled, “Chat Noir, are you flirting with me?”

Standing up he pulled her closer to himself as he rubbed his head against the top of her own as a slight purr rumbled in his throat.

“Kitty! Are you purring?” She leaned back and asked.

“Nope!” He claimed as he willed himself to stop.

“Well, if you were, I’d tell you not to stop. I kind of like it.” She told him bashfully.

Feeling something inside him stir, he began to purr, his voice coming out a bit deeper as he replied, “as you wish Princess.” After a few minutes of holding one another, Marinette shivered, “Princess, we should go inside, this wind is too cold for mere mortals.”

“Ha ha.” She tapped his arm on the arm playfully. “Want to go watch something?”

…

That’s how they wound up watching a couple of episodes of an anime that they both liked.

Eventually they talked a bit more, they were both a little disappointed that summer break meant that they wouldn’t get to hang out together like they had been, as they both had vacations to go on. Chat told Marinette that he may be traveling through the cities she will be in, so maybe he’ll be able to visit her a few times.

They talked about his interview, as Alya had let Mari see them earlier and would be posting them at Noon tomorrow. Marinette admitted though that she had a hard time concentrating after he mentioned that he’d be wearing a different suit at some point.

“Actually, I’ll be wearing several different suits Princess, as I’ll be working for the family business. I’m going to have to wear a tux, a casual suit and a business suit at some point. Not just a bathing suit like the interview implied.” Then he grinned madly, “of course I’m sure you wouldn’t mind seeing me out of this suit and in another one, now would you Princess?”

Speechless, Marinette blushed crimson red and hid her face in his shoulder as he hugged her and chuckled, enjoying the fact that he could tease her like that.

Adrien, no, Chat Noir took the opportunity to ask her to hang out with him tomorrow at 6:15pm until 8:00pm, after he had spent time with his team and the speech for the mayor. She said yes.

All too soon he had to leave and they found themselves back on the balcony.

He kissed the back of her hand and she reached up and pulled him down to her eye level, “Marinette.” He whispered, not knowing what she was going to do.

She closed her eyes and gave him a light kiss on his cheek, then blushing furiously she said goodnight and left him on the balcony by himself, closing her skylight behind her.

He didn’t know what to think, but he went home with one of the widest grins he had ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to note that this Chapter posted just a few days before Mayura or Hero's Day! Although this story is non cannon compliant (Its elements are based off of the episodes before Anasni).  
> I thought it was ironic that this chapter ended with Marinette giving Adrien/ Chat a friendly kiss.


	7. Saturday - Carnival Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter:  
> Adrien remembered confessing to Marinette that he was interested in her, as Chat Noir, but he wanted to wait until she was ready.  
> They have a group meeting where they finalize plans for their working vacation.  
> Marinette kissed Chat Noir on the cheek goodbye.
> 
> This chapter: Warning, longer than usual, 6300+ words, there is alot going on in this chapter  
> Adrien goes to the spa with his group of friends, and Nino is observant again.  
> Adrien has a goodbye lunch with his father, who seems a little sick.  
> Then the carnival. The team hangs out, Ladybug gives a speech and Adrien looks forward to his friend date with his Princess.  
> Then he meets up with his friends for the rest of the night as Adrien, but Luka shows up and steals Mari's attention.

Adrien woke up at 5:20am.  He never needed much sleep after spending time with Mari so he was more than well rested. Her hugs were magical that way after all.

Her kisses were just as magical.

He tried not to focus on the fact that she had kissed him, however platonically on the cheek, there was a sweet echo of her touch lingering there and it…it felt wonderful.

When Adrien had asked Plagg if it could have meant more though, Plagg had only groaned with a roll of his eyes, “just leave me out of it kid. A kiss like that could have meant anything, so don’t get your hopes up. It’s not like she gave you cheese or anything.”

Sighing, Adrien decided not to let Plagg get to him since he had a lot to do today and almost all of it would be great, since he’d be spending a large portion of the day in the presence of his Princess!

After a quick work out in his home gym and some breakfast, Adrien took a shower before deciding to do something sweet for her.

He snuck out to go to one of the flower shops that opened early nearby, just before 6:30am in disguise.

Adrien took a quick detour to a nearby used clothing store and bought some rather comfortable relaxed blue jeans and a black long sleeve hoodie that had a faded image referencing one of Jagged Stone’s concerts on the back from a few years ago.

Carefully selecting his gift for his Princess, he left a simple clue to the identity of the sender of the bouquet, having paid a hefty tip for the deliveryman to insist on delivering them to the Princess of the house and gave them Marinette’s description. Cute, short, with blue eyes and gorgeous dark hair. He also had the arrangement delivered immediately.

So, when he arrived at Marinette’s at 7:30am to pick everyone up for the spa, Marinette was already up, ready to go and being teased by Alya about her secret admirer as they came out to meet the limo.

…

“Mari! Look at this!” Alya exclaimed as she looked up flower meanings on her phone as they climbed in the limo, “thirteen flowers means it’s from a secret admirer and the yellow roses with the red tips mean its from a friend that wants to be more!” Alya sung the last part. “The filler of white daises could mean radiance and healing! So, this guy thinks you’re beautiful and knows you’re healing from heartbreak! Gurl that is so romantic!”

Looking at Alya’s phone, Marinette smiled and answered back with a shake of the head, “those colors could just mean friendship Alya!”

“It also could mean falling in LOVE!” Alya insisted, “who ARE you seeing Marinette that would send you such lovely flowers?! And in a pink crystal vase no less! That isn’t exactly Luka’s style.” She glanced at Adrien and he looked away.

Adrien was surprised that Alya had caught the meaning though, he was her secret admirer after all. Well, Chat was anyway, and he was falling in love with her. He knew she liked pink, hence the light pink vase, but he thought he’d mix it up a bit and try to be subtle with the bouquet itself. Of course, there was also a little plushie of Chat Noir that he had sent with it, but he bet that his Princess had removed it before Alya had shown up, to keep their relationship secret.

Adrien just had to read that chart of rose color meanings at the flower shop.

Still, he couldn’t help the slight smile on his face. Nino gave Adrien a knowing look as Alya went on about it, pestering a silent and blushing Marinette about her other beau that she refused to tell Alya about in front of the boys. But still, to see that semi-permanent blush on her face and the grin that followed her nearly all morning, was worth the secrecy.

Hopefully Tom would forgive him for being so forward, he just… wanted to let her know that he liked her and she deserved that kind of romance.

Adrien had a passing thought about how Ladybug would have reacted vs how Marinette did.

Ladybug would have chewed him out and reminded him that they were just partners and maybe friends and then she would have returned them.

Marinette may be a little upset when he sees her, worried that he risked his identity and not knowing that Adrien being caught buying her flowers secretly would have surely caused an uproar as well, he knew that she was worth it though, although she would deny it. After reassuring her that he hadn’t been discovered, she’d probably thank him and give him a hug and accept them happily.

He knew that it had been a risk. Marinette still hadn’t SAID that she wants to move on after all by telling him the name of the blind guy who unknowingly broke her heart.

Still, Adrien hoped that it wasn’t bad that he wanted to at the very least show her his interest in her since he couldn’t date her like Luka could.

…

Arriving at the spa at 7:48am, they had time to get everything done.

They all got their massages last. The girls went to one room and while the guys took the other room. It was more fun than relaxing for Adrien, which was fine, since Nino was very ticklish and had to be talked through the whole procedure. They were covered by sheets for crying out loud but Nino would giggle or startle from it sometimes, which was hilarious.

The girls apparently enjoyed it very much too, although Marinette still had that small blush on her cheeks, and boy, he had never thought about it before, but Marinette could rock the robe and head towel look. They were all wearing them at the spa, but he only had eyes for Marinette. It was hard to not look her way too much. A fact that Nino had picked up on, but he didn’t say anything about it, until they were alone in the locker room getting dressed to leave.

Nino brought it up easily, “so Dude, why are you going after Mari now?”

Adrien swallowed, not knowing what to say when thankfully Nino spoke again, “no wait, don’t tell me, because if you do it’s confirmation that you are interested in her, despite everything that’s been going on with her, and Alya will be wanting to know what you said.”

Nino sighed before patting Adrien’s shoulder, “this way I can honestly say that you didn’t say anything about it. But you know what dude?” Nino gave Adrien a small smile, “I approve. I can see that you’re moving past that old crush of yours, just take it easy and romance our girl k? She’s been through a lot and you need to go slow.”

Adrien smiled and nodded. “you bet.”

He was so lucky to have a friend like Nino.

…

After dropping everyone off at Marinette’s, Adrien had to actually practice the piano and then have a farewell lunch with his father. Gabriel had moved up his and Nathalie’s flight to this evening, which was not surprising since he never cared for parties and Paris would probably be louder than usual tonight with the carnival going on.

While it was nice to spend time with his father, he seemed out of it. His father’s color was off and he even coughed a few times as if he had a cold, and his father never caught the cold. He wouldn’t allow it.

But his father denied that he was ill and said that he was fine, then he told Adrien that he needed to focus on his work for the next few weeks, as well as have some fun with his friends.

So, all of that was strange, but at least Adrien was able to give him a hug goodbye. He didn’t know when he’d see his father again after all, He would be going to the New York office eventually, but there were various manufacturing facilities and such that they would be visiting too, so at least his father warned him that their communication for the next two months would probably be by text or email. Normally he wasn’t that considerate to warn him.

It was kind of a nice change.

…

Anyhow Adrien’s afternoon was typical. A 1:00pm fitting and a 2:00pm meeting with Alex for finalizing a few things.

Feeding Plagg a whole wheel of Camembert as a bribe, with plenty of extra in his pocket for later, he transformed, put on his disguise, Adrien packed his zippered jacket pockets with some spending money, several hundred euros in each pocket ought to be enough right? He hadn’t been to a carnival before after all.

The carnival had already started early, everyone wore superhero masks at least so it was kind of like the Clara Nightingale video that he helped to make. Except this time he could be himself, sort of. He had to concentrate to not let his ears or tail give him away, although after a few minutes he realized there were a few Chat Noirs that had somehow made similar enough imitations to his own costume that he didn’t need to worry about it. He had no idea how they got their ears and tails so realistic.

Anyhow, he saw Chloe first. She had also tried not to look like herself by wearing something off the rack, a long sleeve yellow blouse and a black skirt over her suit. Rena Rouge wore her regular outfit, plus a purse and Ladybug wore a simple but flared black dress over her suit with black flats.

It was hard not to drool over her for a split second before he remembered Marinette, but then he thought about how Marinette would look in that dress and he blushed. He was sure that it would have looked better on his Princess, with her hair down of course.

“Now that we’re all here.” Rena Rouge said with a smirk that she sent his direction, he had texted her and let her know about his ‘date’ with his Princess later on after all. Rena suggested, “why don’t we go on a few rides before we grab a bite?”

“As long as we hit the games last! I want to win some prizes!” Queen Bee answered excitedly.

“What are we going to do with the prizes though?” Ladybug asked, “if we bring them home, someone could figure out who we are. Besides, isn’t it unfair for us to use our powers that way?”

Chat Noir shrugged as he smiled and pointed out, “most carnival games are rigged anyway, at least, so I’ve heard. Think of it as leveling the playing field Ladybug.” She eyed him warily, “we’ll just have to make sure we don’t win every game and not stay at the same booth for too long.”

Queen Bee frowned, but then smiled eagerly, “I just want to win the prizes anyway and give them a good squeeze, then we can give them to some passing kids that haven’t won anything before you give your speech.” She glanced at Ladybug.

“My speech?” Ladybug asked, “aren’t we here as a team? Why am I always saddled with the speeches?”

“Well, yeah.” Rena commented, “but you’re our leader.”

“Says who?”

Chat was fine with that as he raised his hand like he was in class or something, “we elected you of course. You’re CEO of team miraculous.” He smirked. “I’m your lazy cat President, which means that I’m underneath you.”

That horrible pun earned him three shrieks of “Chat!” and after a few smacks on the arm, he laughed, “I’m just kitten, you know that!”

Tossing her hair, Queen Bee responded, “well, what does that make me?”

“Yellow?” He offered.

They all laughed at that, and that was about how their afternoon went. Some mild teasing and puns and several fast rides and roller coasters that he doubted he’d have enjoyed or been allowed to ride on as Adrien.

Then they hit the food trucks, and Chat was in heaven.

He probably ate enough for three average teenage boys, shocking the girls but giving them something new to tease him about, not that he minded. He didn’t get to eat to his hearts content normally anyway and it was all so sugary, greasy and good! He intended to take full advantage of his miraculous appetite and metabolism tonight.

Even if he have to go for a run before he went to bed, but he didn’t mind.

The games were really cool. They all did pretty well on most of the games, but some of them seemed to excel at others. None of them did well with the shoot out a star with a bb gun game to win a bicycle though. Apparently guns and miraculous powers didn’t exactly mix.

Queen Bee and Ladybug did well with the coin tosses, both earning several large toys each.

Rena and Chat won a few large prizes at the knock over the milk jugs game.

Chat killed it on the basketball game and received a Chat Noir plushie that was nearly half his size.

They all did well when it came to hitting the bell for the strong man game.

They all had difficulty with the toss the balls into the angled basket game, but eventually Ladybug found the sweet spot and won two prizes.

Just as Chloe had said, after hugging her huge plushies, she handed them out to small kids that were walking by, saying they would enjoy them more than she would.

Everyone followed her example and well over a dozen kids were made happier. Chat loved that part of the night.

At 5:50pm, they all left to find an alley way to be able to jump to the roof tops to leave their disguises or purses in safe places, agreeing to meet at the mayor’s podium.

…

“Welcome Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge and Queen Bee! We wanted to thank you for being the protectors of the city of Paris!”

“Thank you, Mayor Bourgeois.” Ladybug stepped up, as she reluctantly accepted the role of leader that Chat had elected her to and gave her speech.

 _Better her than me._ Adrien thought aimlessly, ready to leave, recharge and find Marinette already.

After a short thank you for the city’s support and giving reassurance that they will not forget Hawkmoth and that they would be ready for his return, Ladybug gave a quick thank you to Paris and told everyone to enjoy themselves. Ending with a “Bug out!” All of the heroes left in different directions, flying, hopping and jumping away, to the cheers of the crowd below.

…

“Come on Plagg!” Adrien whined, “Eat faster!” He was beginning to regret de-transforming before his date, or his hanging out with, ahh.. with his Princess.

“I don’t think this is the best idea kid.” Plagg muttered between the smallest bites he’d ever taken.

“You’re just unhappy that I’ve found a girl that likes me.” Adrien defended.

Plagg rolled his eyes as he groaned, “just take it easy with this one. Don’t come on too strong, you’re friends first, remember? Don’t get all mushy on her, it’s too early to share your cheese with her or anything.”

“Aww, you care!”

“Of course, I care! If something happened to you who would get me my cheese?!”

Adrien rolled his eyes and begged for Plagg to please hurry up.

…

Adrien made it just in time to his meet up with Marinette. There were several people by the carousel, but none that he recognized as his Princess.

“Marinette?” He called out.

At first, he thought it was Ladybug who called out sweetly, “Chaton?” But when he turned around, he was hit with a dazzling sight.

Marinette was dressed like him, sort of.

She wore platform black boots, Dark blue skinny jeans, a black belt like tail, a dangerously fitted black blouse and a black choker with a bell on it. Her hair was down and she wore black kitty ears as well. He hadn’t realized before that she could easily be a model herself with how beautiful she was.

In fact, she looked so good, he had totally forgotten his imagined dream of her wearing Ladybug’s black dress from earlier, because now she was smoking hot and he realized that there was a part of him that wanted to get burned.

Wow. It was an incredible feeling, knowing that some part of him had liked Ladybug and in a way he still did, but he LIKED Marinette, in so many more ways. She had taken his breath away.

She giggled, “this would be the perfect timing for me to use a certain pun, but I think that phrase has been slightly overused.” Then she playfully winked at him as she stalked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a gentle embrace drawing him into her personal space, “need help finding your tongue Kitty?”

He swallowed as he blushed and held her back slightly as he managed to parry with, “only if you’re willing to catch it Purr-incess.”

She blushed as well, laughing at their banter as she drew him in for a quick hug with their arms wrapped around each other to hide her blush before clearing her throat as she looked away from him. “Well, we should get this friend date started huh? What would you like to do?”

 _Friends. Right._ He sighed mentally, _why did I promise Tom I’d wait until she told me about that guy? Why was that so important? But she’s right here beside me so I’m going to have to make the best of this, somehow._

He scratched his head, he’d already ridden most of the rides, he imagined that they ought to go on the rides before they ate like he had already done with the team earlier.

“Honestly Princess, I’ve ridden most of them already. Except for the Ferris wheel, would you like to try that one out first?”

Marinette blushed a bit deeper before speaking up unsteadily with. “I’m…I’m okay with that.”

Letting go of her, he offered her his arm and led her to the Ferris wheel. She was quiet the whole way, even so, it warmed his heart to be by her side.

While they stood in line, he noticed that she was a little nervous, so as he bent down to ask her discreetly what was bothering her and he was surprised when she rose on her tip toes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Leaning back with a blush of his own and a smile, he whispered, “What was that for Princess?”

She shyly answered as she brushed some of her hair behind her ear. “For the flowers, that, while reckless maybe, was ah, really sweet, so, ah, thank you.”

He chuckled and sincerely answered, “you’re welcome Princess, anything for you.”

She was quiet until they were next in line to get on the ride, only offering a thanks to the operator as he held the door for them.

Of course, he began to wonder if he had done something wrong as they entered the carriage, sitting side by side, with him putting his arm over her shoulder as he had become accustomed to, he asked as the ride began, “Marinette, is there something wrong? You haven’t said much.”

She finally giggled as if she seemed to realize something, “you don’t know much about Ferris wheels, do you Chat?”

Raising an eyebrow, he wondered what she meant. “Didn’t some guy named Ferris invent them?”

“That’s not what I’m talking about Chat.” She leaned into him and flicked his bell, causing him to smile down at her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she rested her head on his shoulder, “usually couples ride them, either to kiss or make out when they’re near the top.”

He swallowed, getting flustered as he blushed, “I, uh, I did not know that and I…I didn’t mean to mislead you.”

She giggled slightly at that.

Then he thought about it, “so, um, since we’re not like that, exactly, uh,” he looked down at her as she hid her face in his chest, embarrassed at the topic, he gently asked, “so, umm, may I ask why you agreed to ride such a romantic ride with your Kitty in the first place?”

He watched her kindly as she sat back a little and sniffed, as she sought for the right words again, “I don’t know Chat. I like you, I really do, I thought for a moment there that well, it’s just I’m not. Not ready yet I mean. I’m still having a hard time letting go.” She hugged herself.

He rubbed her arm to comfort her, “say no more, I understand and it’s okay Princess. I want to go at your pace and I’m willing to wait.”

Hugging him close she muttered into his chest, “you shouldn’t have to, you deserve so much Chat Noir, so, so much.” Which really tugged at his heart strings.

Looking down at her, lifting her face with his opposite hand as he cupped her cheek, “you deserve to be happy too Princess. While I would be honored if you considered me that way, your happiness comes first in my world, so take your time deciding what you really want.”

“I want you to be happy too though, Chat Noir.” She whispered.

“I am happy, I’m here with you.” He smoothly answered.

“You’re such a flirt.” She rolled her eyes slightly, with just a hint of irritation, “but it suits you.”

Smiling he responded, “I only flirt with you Princess.”

She sniffed again and nodded. “Sometimes I find that hard to believe.”

Adrien sighed and exhaled, “well, I used to only flirt with two girls but the other girl in no uncertain terms has pushed me away and you’re stuck with me now Princess as the only girl that has to endure my flirting.” He chuckled as he glanced out of the view as their carriage kept rising, content in holding her cheek with his hand, brushing his thumb against it, with her head on his shoulder and his other arm awkwardly wrapped around her.

Marinette sniffed again as he returned to looking at her, her blush was enchanting, but still she seemed sad and he had no idea why.

“Are you crying Princess?”

“Hmm, maybe a little, but they’re happy tears, I think.” She whispered as if she was unsure.

“Let me help you with that.” He wiped away a tear that was collecting at the edge of her eye with his thumb, “there, now that’s better. Cheer up Purr-incess. We’re supposed to be having fun tonight.”

“Have you ever done something that you regretted Chat?” She whispered a few minutes later, “something that you wish that you could take back?”

Adrien thought for a moment. “Yeah, but I can’t really talk about it.” He frowned slightly, “at least not until I’ve told you who I am,” she looked at him in shock. “Having a secret identity means that I have to do a lot of things that I’d rather not do.”

Sitting back, he dropped his hand from her face to explain. “I’ve had to lie more times than I can count to people that I care about, sometimes I even feel like I’m lying to you Princess.” Part of him hoped that she would catch the hint that somehow, he was.

“But you have to do that, to protect your family and friends and to be safe as a civilian.” She defended.

Chat Noir nodded, “yeah, but I’d love to have someone close to me that knows everything about me.” He glanced at her hoping that she caught his drift. “There are only four people, well, one of them isn’t exactly human but the other three, one is a mentor, another a distant childhood friend that tricked me into confirming her suspicion of who I am and the last one is one of my new teammates who figured me out by accident, but she hasn’t told me who she is. They all have one thing in common though Princess.”

Marinette blinked as if she was shocked that so many knew his identity already. “What… what do they have in common?”

“I didn’t get to choose to tell them who I am and none of them are very close to me either.” Grasping her hand, he added, “it would be different with you Princess, but it’s complicated that way too. Knowing my identity might put you in danger, but not knowing does too if someone found out that… that I care about you. I think eventually I’d want to tell you who I am just so we could hang out without the mask and you could get to know all of me, wait, that sounds wrong. Umm, or well, if you decided that you wanted to be more?” He looked at her questioningly before adding, “when you’re ready of course.”

She smiled at him sweetly, “aren’t… aren’t you worried that the others are in danger by knowing?”  She managed to ask.

He thought for a moment, “not really. Let’s just say that they can take care of themselves.” He sighed, “I guess that would be the one difference with you Princess.”

Marinette swallowed, “oh?”

Adrien nodded, “while I know that you’re pretty fierce when you want to be and that you can hold your own, I just don’t want to risk you becoming a target of some powered up akuma that’s trying to get my miraculous if word got out that you knew.”

“You’re afraid of that? That Hawkmoth will come after me? I – I thought he was taking a break.” She said uneasily.

“He’s taking an extended vacation, showing that he’s serious about wanting to talk with us. But he’ll be back Marinette.” He turned to her as he pulled her into his chest and held her close, “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

She chuckled as she hugged him back and whispered, “I feel the same way too Kitty.”

That was when the door to the carriage opened, “alright lovebirds. Time to get off.”

…

They rode a few more rides, including the largest gravity defying spinning ride there that pushed Marinette into Chat’s arms for the whole ride, not that either of them complained.

Then he bought them dinner from one of the vendors that he somehow had managed not to have tried yet. They each got a basket of chips and breaded fish and chicken with a large soda. They finished their meal and had snow cones for desert as they walked around and people watched.

Insisting that he win something for his Princess, he picked another basketball game and won her a large plushie of a black cat with a bell.

Marinette in turn insisted on getting him something too, stopping at the basket game that Ladybug had finally conquered earlier, Adrien was pleasantly shocked that Marinette won something on her first try. Having only bears as prizes, Marinette picked out a large fluffy panda with a red bow for him. Thinking it was a good representation of her mother’s side, he took it gratefully.

Alas, they had spent an amazing hour and a half together, that seemed to pass in minutes and he knew that she had to go meet up with their group from school, including himself. Plus, he needed time to get home, change, and have Gorilla bring him back.

Sighing that their Chat time together had come to an end, he asked if she needed to go home before meeting up with her friends.

She had answered yes, since Adrien had offered to pick up everyone at her place at eight. Adrien having explained to them earlier that was when he was available for the evening and so his bodyguard could follow him around too.

Of course, he knew all of that. “Shall I escort my Purr-incess home then? I can get you home with plenty of time to change if necessary.” He said kindly.

“Well, these boots ARE killing me.” She smiled, “thank you for noticing, it’s not that I don’t want to be Chat Noir all night, it’s just I promised Alya that I’d wear a Rena Rouge mask tonight. I’ve got a white blouse and an orange vest that pairs well with it, I just didn’t have the time to make authentic costumes.”

Taking her free hand with his own, he kissed the back of it, “well, you certainly outdid yourself as Chat Noir, Princess. I was flattered, and you… you look wonderful with your hair down like this.” He couldn’t help but brush his claws through her loose strands at that moment. Then he drew his hand back and cleared his throat, “you’re gorgeous, you know that, right?”

She chuckled sweetly, “there you are again with the flattery Chat Noir, but thank you. Even in civilian clothes you’re quite handsome yourself.”

He blushed a little at the compliment, not that she could tell. It meant more than any photographer had ever said to him before after all.

“Well then, maybe you should take Fluffy here for me.” He handed her his Panda, which with her Black Cat plush meant that her arms were overflowing, “and then we get to enjoy the best part of the evening.” He scooped her up into his arms and held her close as he prepared to take his first leap. “Don’t worry Princess, I’ve got you.”

She giggled sweetly, “oh, I know,” she whispered as they took off, probably thinking that he wouldn’t be able to hear her, “in more ways than one you know, you silly Kitty.”

He couldn’t help his wide grin as he hopped from rooftop to rooftop, landing on her balcony just a minute later.

Setting her down, they both sighed that their evening together had come to an end.

“Will I see you again Kitty before I have to leave on vacation? My parents are closing the bakery tomorrow so they can go to a baking conference, so if you’re available we could hang out together.”

As he thought about his schedule, he realized that Alex had taken pity on him and let him have the day off before their trip. He already knew that Nino and Alya would be spending the day with their families, so he’d just have to give her an excuse later why Adrien was busy.

“Actually, I’d love to come over, say around 9:00am?” He offered.

She smirked at him, “I’m going to be up late Kitty and it’s Sunday, I usually sleep until noon.”

“But it’s our last day together, so how about we compromise and say 10:00am?”

Rolling her eyes, his Princess answered teasingly as she passed him his Panda, “fine, you’re such a needy Kitty.” She then put her Kitty Plushie beside her skylight. He had a passing thought that it would be interesting to watch her try to pull it inside, but he really had to leave so Adrien wouldn’t be late.

“For time with you? You bet.” He answered as he grinned at her and then hugged her close with his one available arm, “especially since I’m your Kitty.”

She blushed and hid her face in his shoulder like she would do sometimes as he admitted, “I’m going to miss being able to hold you in my arms like this.” He whispered into her hair. Which sounded a bit more romantic than he had intended, but Marinette just shyly giggled and blushed as he nuzzled her hair just a little, taking a deep breath to memorize her smell.

“I’ll miss you too Chat Noir, my handsome Kitty.” She said as he released her and began to draw away, only for her to grab his arm and pull him closer so she could kiss his cheek once more. “Thank you for a wonderful night.”

“No, thank you.” He said earnestly as he stepped back, hopping on the balcony’s railing before turning towards her once more before shooting her a wink and then blowing her a kiss.

Smiling at him, she pretended to catch his kiss and placed it on her cheek.

Oh, he has so fallen for this girl.

…

Adrien was home a minute later, releasing his transformation he gave Plagg a whole wheel of Camembert as he changed into the outfit that his father had surprisingly suggested.

Like the perfume ad, it was mainly white. But instead of cloth it was an imitation white leather, at least the pants, jacket, boots and belt tail were. As well as the white kitten ears. He wore the jacket open, like his usual overshirt, but wore a solid black t-shirt that had a low and loose neckline that implied a rebellious side. He finished the look with a white domino mask and a choker like Marinette had worn but it was also white and had a silver bell on it.

He doubted that Marinette would recognize him since it was like a blend of his father’s Adrien Agreste image that he wore for the company in ads and his Chat Noir persona, minus the personality.

He hoped that somehow, he could just be plain Adrien despite the façade that he wore.

…

Gorilla got him to Marinette’s at 8:00pm on the dot.

His friends climbed in the limo and they were off to the carnival. _Third time today_ , he thought ironically.

Marinette was lovely as Rena Rouge and of course Alya wore Ladybug’s colors and Nino wore a black t-shirt and mask with his usual pants. Adrien later found out that he had borrowed Marinette’s Chat Noir choker to finish the look.

They all liked his reverse Chat Noir outfit. Shooting a grin at Marinette as he complimented her outfit, she had a slight blush but looked away as she said, “thank you Adrien.”

Adrien was really beginning to wish that it wouldn’t hurt her to look in his eyes.

…

They had slightly less than an hour to hang out before Luka’s concert, so they rode the carousel, played a few games, got some cotton candy and finished with one of the spinning rides that plastered you to your chair and your seatmate.

Marinette was predictably nervous around Adrien the whole time, but Alya had insisted that they sit together on the squish your seatmate ride. Not that he minded at all, but Marinette had shot a quick and unexplained glare at Alya.

Maybe she was jealous that Alya and Nino would be thoroughly enjoying the ride since they were a couple and it was an excuse to be close to one another.

Seeing her distress, he was beginning to wonder if it was really just his eye color that bothered Marinette, or if something else was going on.

“Mari?” He began warily as they sat down first in their carriage as the rest of the riders got on. “Is there something bothering you? I mean, uh, are you jealous of Alya and Nino or something?”

“Huh?” She turned and blinked at him.

He looked away, knowing that whenever he looked at her for too long lately, she didn’t respond well. “Well, they’re a loving couple and they have each other. Somehow you had your heart broken over a week ago by this green eyed fellow and I, well, I’ve been worried about you Marinette.”

“Oh,” she looked surprised when he risked a glance in her direction. “No, I’m not jealous.” She sighed and looked away, “I’m lonely I-I guess.”

“Well, we are friends, we can talk about it. Don’t you have Luka now?”

Exhaling, she nodded. “Yeah, we’re seeing each other, I guess. But there’s this other, I, I don’t know how to describe him? And it’s just been so fast,” then looking back at him, he was lost in her gorgeous blue eyes, making it hard for him to focus. “Plus, I’m having a hard time forgetting… him.”

Adrien swallowed, “I… I understand. The girl I wanted to invite on our vacation, even though the invitation was just as friends, she ah, turned me down.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, but then risked looking in her direction.

Her eyes were liquid pools that sucked him in.

He felt like leaning down to kiss her, but before he could do anything so rash, the operator of the ride came over to make sure that their safety bar was in place.

Coming to his senses for a bit, he boldly told her as she blushed and looked away, “well, while we’re on vacation together, I wouldn’t mind helping you forget the guy, if you let me.” Adrien offered her what he hoped was a kind smile as he said it.

The ride’s music started and their carriage jolted to life. Before they really got going, Adrien put his arm around her so they wouldn’t be bumping their arms so much as he held her to his side during the ride, at least that’s what he told himself.

He raised his voice over the sound of the machine and asked her, “Is this okay?!”

“S-s-sure!” She loudly stuttered back. It was the first time that she had stuttered so badly all week, around either of his personas.

He couldn’t help the thought that maybe, just maybe, things would be getting back to normal after all.

…

After the ride they met Luka about five minutes before it was his turn to go onstage.

Luka ran up to Mari and pulled her away from Adrien’s side, not like they were touching or anything, but Adrien missed her presence all the same as if he had lost a piece of himself. It hurt to see Luka hug her and then kiss her forehead in greeting.

Internally growling, Adrien thanked all the model training that he had ever had as he kept his face steady as he excused himself to use the facilities.


	8. Day 7 - Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter:   
> Adrien said goodbye to his father, who seemed a little sick.  
> Then the carnival.   
> The team hung out.  
> Adrien as Chat Noir went on a 'friend date' with his Princess.  
> Then he meets up with his friends for the rest of the night as Adrien, but Luka shows up and steals Mari's attention.
> 
> This Chapter:   
> Adrien remembers how last night at the carnival ended.  
> Adrein gives Chloe a call to make sure she's ready to defend Paris.  
> Adrein gets ready to hang out with Marientte for the rest of the day and Plagg isn't very happy about it.

Adrien woke up to the awful memories that plagued him as he stretched and felt the ache in the knuckles in his left hand.

Adrien was ashamed to say it, but he was jealous of Luka, something that Plagg was quick to point out after Adrien punched the cement wall in the bathroom that he had managed to find to get away from Luka so he wouldn’t have to watch Luka holding Marinette’s hand.

“Well Loverboy, now you’ve done it.” Plagg scolded him after a quick look at the rising bruise, “you’ve fractured your knuckles. Couldn’t stand another guy all over your girl huh?”

Swallowing as he looked at his kwami with a grimace on his face, the pain from the injury was nothing like he had to deal with as Chat Noir sometimes, although those injuries were always healed rather quickly as he wore his suit. It wasn’t easy to hurt him as Chat Noir, but it did happen sometimes, this pain just lingered.

“I’m going to ignore that comment Plagg, Marinette, she’s… not mine.” Holding his hand, he looked to the side, “she says she’s not ready to move on from that jerk that hurt her.”

“The jerk that didn’t see her?”

“Yeah. You know that Plagg.” Adrien sighed, “is there anything that you can do about this?” He waved his injured hand in front of Plagg.

“Only if you transform, it’d take a few minutes to fix the break and then some camembert wouldn’t hurt.” Plagg smirked. “Of course, you’ll have to take it easy for a day or so and you’ll be sore for a couple of days since it’s an injury that you got outside of the suit. But I can put some extra effort into it tonight if you do one thing for me kid.”

“I’ll get us some of those nachos, I’ll eat the chips and you can drink that weird cheese sauce.” Adrien rolled his eyes.

“Eh, you were going to do that anyway.”

“I was?”

Plagg nodded, “just to broaden my palate and to convince me to take a cat nap while you watch your girlfriend go out with another guy.”

“Plagg, she’s not my girlfriend.”

“But you want her to be.”

Adrien frowned, “what do you want Plagg?”

“Eh, nothing much. I just want you to remember that she’s your friend right now, you’re not Chat Noir and have no right to be jealous. Jealousy and anger can do weird things to Chat Noirs when they’re not masked Adrien, especially when it involves the person that they love.”

“Is that concern I hear Plagg?” Adrien asked skeptically as his kwami rolled his eyes.

“Just keep it together tonight Kid.”

With an eyeroll Adrien answered, “I always do Plagg. I don’t know what you’re worried about.”

…

After a quick transformation, he left the bathroom to sit on a roof nearby to watch the crowds from the shadows of the night, as he kept an eye out for her, for his Marinette.

Finding her, he saw Luka finally leave Marinette’s side, Luka and his band started their part of the concert. Adrien hated to admit it, but they did well.

About fifteen minutes later, he was at her side as Adrien once more. Plagg having gulped down the nacho cheese already and his chips wound up in the trash since he wasn’t particularly interested in them at the moment.

Marinette unfortunately was having difficulty seeing the stage since some rather tall guys moved in front of their group. Adrien could barely see himself, not that he cared, but being the gentleman that he was, he offered to let her sit on his shoulders to see.

He noticed that she blushed as he knelt down in front of her, and he was happy that she was returning to her normal shy self around him as he offered her a hand to help her climb on. Reluctantly, she sat on his shoulders and he held her there by holding her near her knees as he carefully stood up to help her stay balanced.

Pretty soon she was cheering on Luka and his band with the rest of their friends.

Nino and Alya threw him knowing looks as Adrien smiled back, happy to be there for Marinette in such a small yet intimate way. He was sad when he had to set her down once Luka was done with his set.

Marinette thanked him in that sweet voice of hers, flushed from cheering on Luka, and he replied kindly, “no problem Marinette. Anything for you.”

He swallowed, _that sounded too intimate_ , he thought, _get it together Agreste!_

She nodded and then with a little smile added, “well, thank you anyway.”

…

It only took Luka a few minutes afterwards to put his guitar away so he could join the group and again take Adrien’s spot by Marinette’s side as they all waited for and then watched Jagged Stone’s finale. Fortunately, the tall guys found another spot to stand.

When Luka showed up, Marinette gave him a side hug and congratulated him on a job well done, Luka smiled at her and hugged her back, curling his arms around Marinette and leaving one of them across her shoulders as they watched Jagged Stone’s finale and then they all walked around as they watched the carnival come to a close.

Adrien was annoyed and he couldn't do anything about it because for all intents and purposes, Marinette was Lukas girlfriend.

Adrien had tried to be civil, but it was difficult when he only wanted to shove Luka out of the way, wrap his arm around Mari and tell anyone that would listen to him that she was his Princess and he was the only one allowed to hug her.

He probably would have revealed himself if it weren’t for Plagg. Plagg kept clawing Adrien through his shirt after all when the cat tendencies threatened to show up like Plagg seemed to have predicted.

Like the possessiveness, and the growling and the hissing. Adrien was well aware that he was dealing with and suppressing all three, especially after Plagg’s second ‘pull it together Adrien’ speeches that only Adrien could hear. One benefit of being the Black Cat Miraculous holder was excellent hearing, which right now he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that Plagg could scold him so easily.

It took all of his model training to school his face to hide his feelings but he had to get through the night.

Luka suggested going to a party where there would be dancing for an hour before he had to go home. His family were shoving off, whatever that meant, for a sort trip. Unfortunately, he’d be back in time to give Marinette a ride to the airport.

Adrien wasn't sure if it was a good idea for him to go along with them, because he would have to watch Luka dance with the girl that he wanted to call his girlfriend. But Adrien didn't want to leave her with Luka either, even though Nino and Alya would be there to keep an eye out for her and besides, maybe he would be able to cut in and get a chance to dance with her too.

Adrien kept to the edge of the room, waiting for a chance to cut in, refusing several requests to dance by girls he didn’t even know. He’d merely answer, “I’m sorry, I’m waiting to dance with someone. Thanks for the offer though.”

Adrien managed to get up the courage to cut in eventually, “you don’t mind do you Mari?” He asked carefully, being very gentle with her and with his sore left hand.

Marinette sweetly smiled and shook her head, “I don’t mind, we’re friends, aren’t we?” She answered as if she was unsure.

He hated being reminded of all the times he called her just a friend before today, he must be the unluckiest cat around.

Wanting to comfort her he finally answered, “I like to think we’re friends, you’ve always been a wonderful friend to me Marinette.” Because his hand ached, he stretched it and repositioned her hand in his.

“Is there something wrong with your hand Adrien?” She asked, her voice full of concern.

Shaking his head Adrien said, “I hurt my knuckles earlier, they’re just sore, that’s all.”

“How did you hurt them?” She asked suspiciously.

Not thinking quickly enough, he answered, “I foolishly tried boxing with a wall earlier today, it won.”

“Adrien!” She looked at him shocked, “I never thought you’d do something like that. You’re usually so reserved.”

Nodding Adrien said, “well, everyone has their bad days. I’ll be okay though,” he shrugged it off, “you don’t need to worry about me Mari.”

“If you say so.”

Alya then spun around them, helping Marinette put both her hands around Adrien’s neck and Adrien to put his hands on her waist. Looking at each other sheepishly, Marinette blushed and looked to the side as Adrien blushed in return. Unlike the last time that they danced like this though, Marinette didn’t lean into his shoulder. He found himself wishing that she was that relaxed around his civilian self like that again.

Eventually, the song ended and Luka was tapping Adrien on the shoulder to retrieve his date. Plastering on a smile, Adrien thanked them for allowing him to cut in, then he went to sit on the sidelines and drink a soda, only to see Luka help Marinette put her hands behind his neck and them place his hands on her waist, then drew her into his arms. Then he smoothly used one hand to briefly encourage Marinette to lean into him before returning his hand to her waist. She leaned on him throughout the dance with a small thoughtful smile on her face.

Luka was beaming and of course he would be, he had the prettiest girl here, ever, in his arms.

Adrien was livid and he guessed this was what it was like to see red. He was about to charge in and get Marinette back when Plagg clawed him again. Knowing that he needed to rein it in, Adrien found a private alcove and hissed at Plagg.

“That’s enough Plagg!” He hissed.

“Adrien. Kid.” Plagg took a deep breath, “look at your hands for me.”

Adrien looked down and was surprised that there was a subtle difference, his nails had become elongated claws.

“Plagg, what’s happened? Why do I have claws?”

“I was afraid of this kid, it’s a rare side effect of your miraculous. Past Chat Noirs realized that sometimes they just didn’t have time to transform in certain situations, so there’s this.”

“Meaning?”

Plagg groaned, “do I have to spell it out? When you’re defending the person you love and you’ve grown into being Chat Noir this can happen. You were about to go out and pound that guy, weren’t you?”

Adrien shifted his gaze and pouted, “he was holding her too closely.”

“Yeah, right. Like it’s a terrible thing for him to hold his girlfriend close. Come on Adrien, pull it together.”

Adrien sighed, “I’m trying Plagg.” Looking at his claws he managed to ask, “will these go away?”

Plagg nodded, “once you calm down. You can control it, it just takes practice. Just be careful not to let it happen again, your teeth may change next time.”

Adrien nodded and then he took a deep breath and then looked at his hands, they were normal again. He realized that he had hardly felt it when they had changed back.

…

Things turned out for the better when Luka had to go home early. And Adrien got to save the day by escorting Marinette home himself after the party was over.

Sure, the Gorilla had to drive them, but he didn’t mind and neither did Alya and Nino, who also hitched a ride.

…

Thankfully all of that was in the past, and Luka would be out of town today. So, after stretching, Adrien got cleaned up for the day.

Adrien did his packing for the trip, it was only one bag since everything they needed practically was being provided or would be at the Genoa house. He hoped his friends wouldn’t judge him once they found out that he owned the property and everything on it, he doubted he’d be able to keep it a secret.

He knew that Nino would flip once he saw the massive garage. If Adrien had to guess there were at least over fifty classic cars and probably three dozen motorcycles in it. 

The trustees of Adrien’s inheritance had arranged to make a small business out of the Genoa property as well as other properties he now owned of course and Adrien knew that he couldn’t list all of his properties if he tried.

Usually the Genoa house was rented out as either a short-term vacation home or a bed and breakfast, giving the maids, groundskeepers and chauffer something to do. His grandfather didn’t want his employees to lose their jobs when he passed after all, so most of them had been working there for over twenty years.

No wonder it had always felt like a home away from home to him, Adrien had only been there twice since becoming Chat Noir. Everyone there probably knew he owned everything, but they had treated him like a kid, like his grandfather’s grandson, which he appreciated greatly.

He’d deal with the loss of his grandfather somehow, owning his favorite estate made Adrien feel good for some reason. It made him feel better that he could share it with his friends, especially Marinette, not that she knew how he felt about her.

…

After contemplating what would be going on over the next four weeks, it hit him that he would be leaving Paris, and he’d be leaving it in Chloe’s hands.

It was only 9:00am, so he called her and asked if she’d like to go for a quick run.

She yawned and answered no, she was too tired after the late-night gala her father put on after the carnival, that Adrien had skipped out on, but she didn’t mind talking to him over the phone for a bit.

“I’m only a plane ride away Chloe, just in case you need anything.” He reassured her.

“Adrikins,” she scolded, “you make it sound like I can’t handle myself.”

Adrien rolled his eyes at her nickname for him, no matter how many times he asked her just to call him Adrien, it still stuck. He didn’t want to argue so he ignored it. “I know you can handle yourself Chloe, it’s just,” he sighed, “I’ve been the protector of Paris for almost four years and it’s hard not to worry.”

“I know, but I’ve got it handled. I even pried Ladybug away from her civilian life the other day and we had a quick meeting with Daddy and the police chief.”

“You did what?” He almost shouted, “why didn’t you call me to ask if I wanted to come along?”

“Adrien, calm down. She wasn’t busy and just like you she was worried about leaving me in charge while you’re all off having some well-deserved fun.”

“How do you know she wasn’t busy?”

“I asked. I called her yo-yo number, just to talk, duh, and when I found out she was worried for no reason whatsoever, I convinced her to come with me to talk about how we should handle things in the future with the authorities. She knew the Fox was busy and you were at a photoshoot or something or other because you’d already said the Cat was busy so we just had an impromptu meeting for all the good that it did.”

“Chloe.” He sighed, he felt sorry for Ladybug since she had to handle Chloe on her own like that, sort of, he had mixed feelings about it honestly.

“Look, nothing much happened, it was a ten-minute meeting, tops. We agreed that our specialty was magical attacks and we should concentrate on those, it’s fine to intervene if we know we can handle something illegal that we came across as long as we notify the police about it first if at all possible. But we’re not responsible to watch the city all the time, we’re like an as needed magical defense force. I’m sending the number we’re supposed to call to your baton right now.”

“Chloe,” Adrien brushed back his hair in frustration, “are you sitting around transformed in your room?”

“I was practicing with my weapon if you must know nosy. I saw your number on the caller ID on my phone so I answered.”

“What if someone sees you Chloe?” He worries as he runs his hand through his hair again.

“Oh, Jean-Luc knows already, he won’t tell anyone. He LOVES me!” Chloe answers, “besides, I had to tell him, he reports to Daddy and he can cover for me when I’m out doing superhero stuff.”

“Have you told Sabrina?”

Chloe scoffs, “pfft, of course not Adrikins, I’m not stupid. Just Jean-Bob. It’s an as needed thing to share your identity isn’t it? Sabrina would feel like she would have to tell her Dad eventually, she’s loyal that way and even I am not above her family, which is a good thing. So, I’m protecting her from feeling like she’d have to lie about me or betray me someday by not telling her who I am.”

“Wow, that actually makes sense.” Adrien was somewhat impressed.

“Thanks, I think.” Chloe paused, “look, I’ll miss you while you’re gone Adrikins. Don’t forget to call or text while you’re gone.”

“Sure, if you do that same.”

“Well,” he could practically hear her wiping her hands of the tender moment as she announced, “I’ve got a manicure that I need to get to, I want to look my best for my first solo patrol tomorrow.”

“Are you coming to see us off? Half of the class told Alya that they’re coming.”

She groaned, “you know that’s not my thing Adrien, you know that. You’re one of my best friends and I love you, I just… I hate goodbyes.”

“I know, you’re one of my oldest friends and I love you too, will you be okay?” He asked kindly.

She scoffed, “I’m more that okay, I’m ready. I’ll protect Paris like nothing else, you’ve got nothing to worry about Cat!”

Snorting Adrien realized it was almost time to meet up with Mari, “Well, I’m glad you’ve got everything under control.”

“I’m not the one I’m worried about, it’s you and that baker girl. You going to make a move soon or what?”

Adrien choked, “she’s with Luka!” He protested.

Scoffing again, since it was one of Chloe’s favorite methods of communication, she answered, “not from what I can tell. They’re fake dating. He likes her far more than she likes him. The girl feels like she’s using him and I bet he’s even told her he doesn’t mind.”

“What?” He couldn’t believe that’s what she thought.

“I can just see them doing that, that’s all. Besides, she’s got her eyes on someone else.”

“Now how would you know that?”

“She can’t help that she still likes her old crush and while she’s trying to get over him, as if that were possible, it’s obvious that she has mixed feelings about SOMEONE.” She sung.

“WHAT? How do you know all of that Clo?” Adrien could only hope that she was talking about Chat Noir.

“I’m observant Adrien. Try it sometime.”

“You’re not going to tell me who they are or how you know it, are you?”

“Nope. I’ve got to go though, I don’t want to be late to my appointment, they do sloppy work when you’re late.”

Adrien sighed, having more questions than answers now. “Fine. Keep in touch Queenie.”

“I will if you will. Bye Adrikins!”

“Bye Chloe.” Then she hung up.

…

Adrien was thrilled. He had nearly the whole day with Marinette ahead of him, but he didn’t want to come empty handed, so he packed some of his favorite anime and of course some extra camembert since Plagg would need to recharge a few times.

Plagg wasn’t exactly on board with Adrien’s idea of spending the day with Marinette though.

“Kid, you’ve fallen for her, as Chat Noir. Don’t you think that’s a bit selfish of you?”

“What?” Adrien stopped and stared at his kwami in astonishment.

Plagg fiddled with his cheese as he explained, “you’re not going to be able to transform much and hang out with her over the next month. If she falls for the cat side of you, she won’t be open to being friendlier with Adrien, do you get my drift?”

“I’m not sure that I follow.”

“Ugh! I hate spelling it out, if you really like her, you should court her as Adrien even though she’s been having trouble being around your ‘green eyes’.” Plagg rolled his eyes when he said that with a vain attempt at making air quotes with his little paws. Then he continued, “you don’t have a way to talk to each other as Chat Noir when you’re not together either and you’d have to reveal yourself to your girlfriend someday anyway because it’ll wear me out to keep you transformed for a prolonged period day in and day out.”

Adrien thought about it, “you know, you’ve got a point Plagg.”

“I know I do and I’m always right!” Plagg replied as Adrien first went to his computer and after typing for a few minutes, wrote something down on two separate sticky notes and then he went into his closet and changed.

Uncharacteristically, Plagg asked, “what are you doing? Don’t we have to leave soon?”

“I’m just solving one of your problems Plagg.” Adrien came out wearing a soft black v-neck sweater over a light green button-down dress shirt with short sleeves and the relaxed blue jeans that were already freshly laundered that he had worn the night before at the carnival. He even wore some black sneakers that his father didn’t know he bought that didn’t carry the Gabriel brand.

Then Adrien went to his bathroom and looked in the mirror, then he got out some hair gel and messed up his hair on purpose until it looked more like Chat Noir’s hair, even if it was shorter. Adrien came out of the bathroom and posed for Plagg, “so what do you think?”

“I think you look like the perfect nerd.” Plagg said without feeling as he took a bite of his precious Camembert. “So how will this solve YOUR problem?”

Adrien pulled out a black mask from one of his pockets and then he picked up one of the sticky notes, “remember that video that I was almost cast in as Chat Noir? I still had the costume.”

Plagg scoffed, “like that would fit you anymore, you’ve grown a foot or two since then.”

“Well, I keep it around for sentimental reasons, besides, the mask still works!”

Plagg laughed, “uh huh, yeah, so you’ve got a disguise. Fine, so what’s with the computer?”

Adrien smirked, “you’ll see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in releasing this chapter, because the 7th day wound up being so long, I split it up into 2 chapters. 
> 
> Life has been crazy lately so I haven't had as much time to write either and once you add computer/internet problems, well, now you know why I estimate when I'll post next.
> 
> Anyhow, The second part of the day should be posting in about 5 days or less I hope because I have other stories and obligations to deal with and I want to make it good. There will also be a bonus glimpse into the next part of the series, 'A Working Vacation' that I will post on the same day as either part of Chapter 9 or as chapter 10.


	9. Hanging Out With His Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter:  
> Adrien remembered how last night at the carnival ended.  
> Adrien gives Chloe a call to make sure she's ready to defend Paris.  
> Adrien gets ready to hang out with Marientte for the rest of the day and Plagg wasn't very happy about it.
> 
> This Chapter: Marichat!  
> Chat Noir spends the day with his Princess wearing a somewhat dressy outfit, a sweater and his mask.  
> They hug and cuddle, talk, eat, watch tv and play games before they give each other a special goodbye.
> 
> Plus a Bonus glimpse of the next part of the series, 'A Working Vacation'

“Purr-incess!” Adrien called out excitedly to Marinette as he landed on her balcony a few minutes early at 9:56am.

A slightly rumpled Marinette opened her skylight and yawned as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, “Chat Noir? Why are you here so early?”

He chuckled as he knelt in front of her like a cat, his tail wagging with pleasure, “we made plans to hang out today, didn’t we?”

Her eyes opened suddenly as if she just remembered, “oh right, I’m sorry, I slept in, come on in.”

She climbed down and let him come in, carrying his bag as he closed the skylight behind him, vaulting over the edge of her bed to get to the main floor.

He was about to hug her but she held up her hand telling him to stop.

“Can you give me a few minutes to get cleaned up?” Marinette asks. “I have morning breath and I still need to get dressed for the day.”

She was still wearing her pajamas after all, cute pajamas, but still, he wasn’t sure how appropriate hugs were when she was dressed like this.

So, he nodded, “go right ahead Princess. I’ll be waiting.” Then he shot her a grin, she blushed in return before picking some clothes off her dresser and heading to the bathroom.

…

It took Marinette a few minutes to get dressed and then she came out of the bathroom with her hair brushed but hanging loose, just a few centimeters past her shoulders.

“I forgot to leave my hair ties in the bathroom.” She explained as she pulled some out of a drawer, but Chat Noir had his own idea about that.

Grabbing her gently by the wrist before she could put her hair up, he told her, “Princess, your hair looks purr-fectly beautiful the way that you have it now. Why mess with purr-fection?”

She blushed as he let go of her wrist, “well, I guess I could leave it down, if you really like it this way.”

“I do.” He admitted as he brushed a couple claws through her hair, then pulled back realizing that act may be a bit too… intimate? Maybe?

She smiled as she grabbed his hand and held it as she honestly said, “it’s ok Kitty.”

He gulped.

She swallowed too, before adding, “I’ll leave it down then, so, uh, are you hungry Chat? I could make us some crepes.” She offered.

He gave her a genuine smile. “I would love that Marinette, but first I wanted to ask you if you were comfortable with something.” He hesitated, unsure if he should do this now that he was there and she was right there in front of him.

She nodded for him to go on.

“Well, I have a sort of a time limit on my suit? So it’s best for me to not to be transformed all day.” He fibbed as Marinette nodded as if she understood as she let go of his hand, then lightly wrapped her arms around him. He quickly returned the gesture.

“I brought a mask just like this one.” He pointed at his face with one claw, as he said hesitantly, “but I didn’t know if me not wearing the whole suit or the cat ears would bother you or if that would even be okay?”

She smiled, “actually that’s a pretty good idea. It can’t be comfortable to be dressed up in your suit all day either.”

He briefly thought about how it was almost like she knew about his kwami, but that was a conversation that they’d have to have on another day.

“Actually, it’s pretty comfortable, it’s just unusual to wear it for so long.” He told her, “but that’s not all.”

Taking a deep breath and gazing into her beautiful eyes he paused before quickly explaining, “I’ve heard how you don’t like being around guys with green eyes and honestly Marinette, if not having cat eyes bothers you, I’ll just have to take a few breaks while I’m here to recharge to stick around just to, properly take care of my suit, yeah. But if it doesn’t bother you, well, that would be nice to not to have to go through all of that. If that’s okay?”

“You have green eyes?”

He nodded, “just not cat eyes. Actually… they’re a bit like your friend Adrien’s eyes?” He knew he was playing with fire, but he really wanted her to know someday and it wasn’t like a conclusive hint at who he was, there had to be other blond guys out there with model like bodies and identical green eyes to Adrien Agreste, right?

His worried look apparently won her over, “Chat Noir, I hope you don’t think that I would feel differently about you because your eyes aren’t always like this?” She waved at his face, before cupping his cheek with one hand. “I mean, your eyes are pretty mesmerizing and adorable, but uh…”

He grinned, “you think I’m adorable?”

“Well, yeah, but um…” she let go of his cheek as she blushed and then lightly smacked his shoulder teasingly before falling back into his more than willing arms as he hugged her, “you’re incorrigible, you know that Chat?”

He nodded, “oh, I’ve been called worse.”

She chuckled, “well, I guess what I was trying to say is that looks don’t mean that much to me, you’re a wonderful person Chat Noir and while I can tell you’re a handsome cat, it’s just a bonus.” She shyly added with a shrug.

“A bonus huh?” He said before seriously whispering, “you must have done something miraculous at your last job then, because you’re just swimming in the looks department Marinette.”

She brushed a stray hair behind her ear, as she shyly scolded, “that’s a stretch Kitty, but um, thanks. Uh, if you would like to you can call me Mari too, when you don’t want to call me Princess that is.” She looked up into his eyes to see him gazing at her lovingly, as she whispered, “if you want to.”

“I’ll remember that.” He brushed back that same hair that strayed away once again as she drew closer to him, pulling him down until they were facing each other, “but I think I’ll always want to call you Princess, it suits you.” He whispered.

“Well, thank you.” She whispered back, blinking at him alluringly.

Their faces were drawing closer together like magnets.

“You’re welcome.” He whispered back, his nose just brushing hers as he sported a slight blush of his own hidden by his mask.

That was when they heard a loud buzzer go off.

Startled, Adrien drew back as he realized that he’d gotten too close to Mari, they had been only a centimeter from kissing when that buzzer rang. He could still feel her warm breath on his lips, but she still hadn’t told him everything and he didn’t want to lose her so he couldn’t, he just couldn’t. Tom warned him that he needed to know, right?

_Pay Attention Agreste._ He mentally scolded himself, _you don’t want to hurt her and mess this up!_

Marinette had drawn back when she heard the buzzer too, “oh, uh, that’s the buzzer for the back door to the bakery, there’s a small delivery that I was expecting.” Mari blinked and then swallowed as she blushed with embarrassment, whether it was from the almost kiss or from forgetting about the delivery, Adrien didn’t know.

She stepped away from him, heading towards the bakery, “go ahead and make yourself comfortable.” She waved towards the bathroom, “you can change in there.”

The buzzer rang again, then Chat Noir replied, “you’re sure you’re ok with my green eyes?”

She ran back up to him quickly and pecked him on the cheek, “I’m fine with it. I look forward to meeting you, well, sort of.” She replied bashfully as the buzzer rang again. Turning on her heel she raced downstairs to accept the delivery.

…

“Are you sure about this Kid?” Plagg asked after he released his transformation in the bathroom and handed him a piece of cheese.

“I’m sure Plagg.”

“Adrien you’re one of her best friends, if she doesn’t realize who you are today, she’s likely to find out who you are over your vacation together, are you sure that you want to risk it?”

“Plagg, I want to be with her. I’m going to have to be honest with her someday, just like you said. This just shows that I trust her and if she figures out who I am, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I know her, she wants to keep everyone safe so she’s worried about me telling her my identity, so I figured that maybe it would be better to just give her some hints?”

Plagg scoffed, “like you haven’t given her enough clues already, this is a bit over the top.”

“Go big or go home as they say.” Adrien only knew that meant he’d do everything he could, even if it was over the top, for Marinette. Changing the subject, he put on his Chat Noir mask and asked, “now, are you going to be okay by yourself?”

Plagg swallowed and then smirked, “oh, I’ll be fine, all by myself. Yep, I’m sure that I’ll have NO problem entertaining myself.” Then he gave Adrien a look, “if you’ll leave your phone with me that is, there’s a couple of movies that I’ve been meaning to see.”

“Fine, just use the headphones, okay?”

His kwami grinned as Adrien handed him his phone, knowing that Plagg knew how to unlock it. “Now behave Plagg.”

“I’ll stay out of trouble, I wouldn’t want to ruin your date.”

“It’s not a date Plagg, we’re just, hanging out.” He solemnly swore, sort of.

“Uh, huh. Just keep telling yourself that Kid.” Plagg settled back into his bag, “and leave the bag in her room or something, I don’t want to be stuck in the bathroom all day.”

“Sure Plagg.” Adrien picked up the bag and went to deposit it in Marinette’s room.

…

After leaving Plagg in his bag in Marinette’s room, he went down stairs and pulled the thin curtains closed, they only filtered the light a little but he didn’t want anyone to glance in and see the masked hero of Paris without his suit on.

“I’m back!” Marinette announced as he turned around and smiled at her, her beauty nearly caught him off guard once again with that smile of hers, but she seemed equally surprised at finding him there, sans super suit.

She walked up to him carefully, “Chat Noir?”

He blinked and nodded at her with a hesitant smile, “that’s me.”

Standing in front of him now, she closed the distance between them as she gazed into his eyes for a minute before reaching out to take his hands.

Gladly taking her hands into his own, it was an electrifying moment for him because he could feel her hands with his own bare hands. Her hands were soft, warm, and holding them in his own made him feel complete. It was then that he realized why her hugs were so magical, Marinette made him feel like he was home.

“Marinette,” he whispered as he drew her closer, wrapping one arm around her as she inspected and held his other hand, he was surprised at how similar but how different holding her like this was verses when he was in his suit. Both were magical, both felt right, but holding her like this felt more real and more personal. Her scent, while weaker, was still there too, but breathing in her scent from her hair made him feel whole now in a very different way.

“You have calloused fingers.” She noted as he chuckled.

“Yeah, I play the piano.” He told her.

Looking back up at him, she said, “you probably shouldn’t tell me things like that, I… I might be able to figure out who you are.”

“Marinette.”

“Mari.” She answered.

“Purr-incess.” She rolled her eyes slightly, “I don’t mind.” He told her. “I know now that I want to tell you eventually, so if you figure out who I am, you’ll be able to get used to knowing who I am sooner.”

“Is your secret identity that shocking?” She teased as she led him to the kitchen to get started on the crepes before letting go of his hand completely. Once she reached the counter, she pulled out what she needed and started mixing things together to make their brunch.

Contemplating how to respond for a moment, he answered, “it may be a bit of a surprise, let’s just say that this isn’t the first time that we’ve met outside of the suit.”

Then taking a risk he asked, “do you want to take a guess?”

She shook her head as she easily replied distractedly, “nope, I love you the way you are.”

They both froze, once she found her voice she sputtered, “I-I mean, I love you like a friend, yeah, I uh, um. Hmm.” She bit her lip and blushed tomato red, not sure what to say. “There’s no way I’m going to live that down, am I?” She asked a bemused cat-boy as she returned to making the crepes, unable to look at him.

Grinning like a mad man or a mad cat, Adrien replied, “nope.” Then he admitted shyly as he realized he wasn’t nearly as smooth when not wearing his suit, “although I feel the same way Princess, sometimes I feel like we’re in that weird place between friends and lovers. So, yeah, I love you too, like that.” Then he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Does this, ah, change anything?”

Pausing what she was doing, she went over to him, and took his hand again, almost sadly? “Well, it wouldn’t be right or wise to… to try to be more than we are right now when we’re about to leave on our vacations.”

Pouting Adrien replied, “I suppose not, but ah,” he paused as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the sticky note from earlier and he offered it to her with a smile, “we can stay in contact though, that’s something that friends do, right? This is an email address that I set up, so we can stay in touch.”

He wasn’t about to use the service that he used with Rena Rouge to stay in contact with his Princess after all. Last thing he wanted to do is to send Rena a message intended for his Princess by accident, he’d never live that down.

Adrien could tell that Rena was a passionate person after all, she reminded him of Alya like that, but nah, she couldn’t be her. Rena was friends with Ladybug in her personal life and he was fairly certain he knew all of Alya’s friends and none of them could be Ladybug, so that disqualified Alya from being Rena Rouge in his mind.

Taking the address, Marinette put it in her pocket, “well, thank you. That actually makes me feel better about things.” She said offering him a smile before returning to the crepes.

“Well, this way I can let you know if and when I can come and visit you, when I’m passing through that is.” He smiled at her cheekily.

“Well, it sounds like it won’t be easy.” She warned him, “we’ll be staying at Adrien’s Genoa house most of the time.”

“So, I’ve heard.” Then he tapped her on her nose when she turned towards him, where he was hovering over her, “but that’s okay. He’s a gentleman and I’m not worried about him, you could probably use some time to, well, know that you’re ready to move on.”

“Is it that obvious?”

He nodded. “I care about you Mari, that won’t ever change, no matter who you choose.”

“Choose?”

“I’m not blind Mari, you’re going to be hanging out with Adrien Agreste for a month, probably meeting dozens of new people in the process too. Maybe one of them will be able to finally win your heart. You deserve love Mari, I can’t fault anyone that you would choose who could bring you happiness, even if it’s the model in your life.” He shrugged as if he couldn’t hide a small and very false frown as he waved away his admission, he knew he would be over the moon if she choose Adrien, because hey, he was Adrien.

“Aww, you’re so sweet.” Then she took a deep breath and avoided his gaze suddenly interested in cooking more than necessary, “you don’t need worry about Adrien though, he’s…” She took a breath as if trying to describe him, to him, “he’s just a friend. I’m not his type.” She turned to him and carefully smiled gently, “so you have nothing to worry about there Kitty.” Then she quickly returned to cooking the food.

The news hurt.

He was surprised. She sounded different for some reason, when she described him, Adrien him, painfully, as just a friend. _Mari, why can’t you think of me as possibly being more than just a friend someday?_ He wondered, _and you are my type, you just don’t know that yet._

She swallowed and started mixing something a little violently as she added, “I feel like I should warn you though that Luka is driving me to the airstrip tomorrow.”

“Oh really? Why? Can’t one of your other friends pick you up on the way?” He was fairly certain that he had offered to do that already as Adrien after all.

She sighed, as if resigning herself to the idea. “Alya will be picking up my bags in the morning so he can drive me, he thought it would look good to uh, him.”

“Ah, so Mr. Green Eyes will be there to see you off?” He asked, certain that he’ll be able to finally figure out who he was at the small airport.

“Oh, he’ll be there.” She answered with emphasis almost sadly, “but I don’t want to talk about him, I just want to spend time with you today Kitty.” She smiled at him, changing the subject, “are you ready to eat?” As she set their breakfast on the counter.

…

The rest of their day together was predictable.

Predictably awesome and fun.

After cleaning up brunch, they watched a couple episodes of his favorite anime. Marinette quickly learned that his sweater was extremely soft so she wasn’t above cuddling him just a little bit to enjoy its softness, or that’s what it seemed like she told herself anyway. Adrien was a little overheated, he wasn’t sure if it was the sweater or his cuddly Princess, but either way, he didn’t mind. She was tucked into his side and it felt just like her magical hugs.

They made a quick batch of chocolate chip cookies together and Marinette was surprised at how little he knew about being in the kitchen and cooking. Adrien even got a small burn on his hand when he got too close to the oven, but Marinette cleaned it up and bandaged it for him, placing a kiss on it to make it better.

Adrien of course blushed at that and thanked the heavens that he was useless in the kitchen.

Then they played some video games for an hour or so before switching to board games, after he mentioned that his hand was healing from an injury and he had reached his limit for the video games.

She scolded him about that, about not telling her about it, but he told her it would be fine tomorrow, he was a miraculous holder and as such he healed quickly. Especially with a cheese crazy kwami that he can bribe for help when needed, but he wasn’t going to tell her that.

They found that they both were very flexible while playing twister, but that game didn’t last too long once they figured out that they were both very ticklish and wound up having a tickle fest until they were both breathless and lying on the floor from exhaustion.

Then they watched a couple of episodes of Marinette’s favorite anime as they caught their breath. This time though, she sat while he laid his head on her lap. She was thoroughly enjoying the fact that his hair was so soft and that he could still purr quietly. Adrien obviously liked her playing with his hair too.

When it was time for dinner though, Chat Noir offered to go and pick up something, after making a call, he was back in half an hour to surprise her with take out from one of the finest restaurants in Paris, including crème brulee for dessert.

They finished the night watching two movies, one was a comedy, Groundhog Day, and then they probably risked their relationship as friends as they finished the evening with a romantic comedy adventure, The Princess Bride. Which Chat thought was highly appropriate, since it had a Princess and a man in Black out to win her hand.

Of course, they wound up cuddling on the couch during both movies. His arm wrapped around her shoulders or waist and her head on his shoulder.

True to form, knowing that they both had early mornings, they held true to his midnight curfew and found themselves trying to say goodbye to each other, after he ‘put on’ his suit. They both knew that they may possibly have to wait to see each other for the next month, but neither of them wanted to think about that.

Adrien hated the fact that they may not be able to hug each other whenever, even though they’d be seeing each other every day, but she didn’t know that. He wasn’t sure if she was ready for a relationship still, especially one with him, Adrien him. She still was uncomfortable around him for some reason as Adrien, and he didn’t want to push her. He wanted her to be happy.

Besides, protocol and the paparazzi dictated that he needed to be careful as Adrien to not even step a toe out of line and frankly, it really put a damper on his love life, or lack thereof. If he hugged her or even was caught looking at Marinette as more than a friend, well, he didn’t know if she could handle the publicity that would bring. It’s one thing to be his girlfriend and to hug him publicly, that would be sweet, but it would be another story if it was a media frenzy that she was trying to seduce him or something just because he shot a smile her way.

Adrien knew that he would really have to be aware of where they were and how he behaved towards his Princess. He’d have to pretend that he doesn’t want to hug her non-stop. He’d do it, for her, he just didn’t know how long he’d be able to hold out.

Now they were here on her balcony, saying goodbye. He could hear himself promise her in his mind that he would respect her and hold himself back for her as he told her image mentally, _‘as you wish.’_ Just like the pirate in Princess Bride would promise that he loved his Buttercup.

Now she was here, in his arms, and he was stroking her hair as he held her.

Chat Noir whispered, “I’m really going to miss you Mari, my Princess.”

“I’ll miss you too, Chat Noir.” She whispered back before leaning away from him, cupping his cheek and encouraging him to lean down to her level, so that she could gaze into his cat like eyes once more. “I’ll really miss you.”

“I’m really going to miss you too Princess.” He answered her, his eyes were half lidded as he leaned in and rubbed his nose against hers sweetly. Briefly leaning back, and unable to resist the urge, he then dove down and rubbed his cheek against hers, then he rubbed his cheek into her hair, taking deep breaths to remember her scent.

After a couple of minutes of his cat like behavior, Marinette giggled as she gently pushed him back just a bit, “ok Kitty. I get it, you’re going to miss me.” She wrapped her hands behind his neck and stared at him. He stared back.

Then, leaning back to touch noses with her again he whispered, “is it that obvious?”

Nodding slightly, she answered, “uh huh.”

Then she did the unthinkable.

Marinette, his Princess, leaned over and she kissed him.

She KISSED him!

It wasn’t just a little peck either.

Lasting several seconds, Adrien was too shocked to respond during that first amazing second, but for the next few, he eagerly kissed her back as he held her in his arms and her hands found their way into the scruff on the back of his neck as she toyed with the hair there for the final few seconds.

Adrien had no idea that kissing her would feel so, well, WOW!

He wished that it could go on forever, but he knew that they needed to talk about this, whatever it was, and so reluctantly, their short slice of heaven had to come to an end.

Leaning back in a daze. He finally managed to form words again after a few seconds as he blinked and looked down at the goddess in his arms.

“Princess, Mari, what… what was that for?”

Marinette shyly answered as she pulled her hands down and then glanced up at him as she played with her hands as he kept his hands on her waist, grounding him so he didn’t fly away as she nervously stood back a little, “Well, two things, first of all, I, uh, I didn’t want you to forget me.”

He shook his head slightly as he kept his eyes on her, “I doubt that could ever happen Marinette, my Princess.” Without losing eye contact, he took one of her hands and kissed the back of it. He could tell that for a moment, his action had stolen her breath away. Much like her kiss had stolen his.

After another long moment of being able to gaze at her beauty, he quietly asked with a small smirk, “what was the other reason, Purr-incess?”

She took a deep breath and steeled her nerves before bashfully admitting, “I… I wanted to share my first kiss with you?”

He wanted to lean down, kiss her again and then just hold her forever, but he managed to stay calm and cool about it.

“Thank you, Princess, I’m honored.” He bowed slightly in her direction, as much as you can when holding someone that is, and he honestly told her, “it was my first kiss too, at least the first one that didn’t involve an akuma, which was a really cat-astrophic event if you ask me.” He shrugged as she chuckled. “Still, I’m glad it was you.”

“Me too.” She whispered back.

Then brushing back a few stray hairs behind her ear, he noticed her favorite black earrings in their familiar place as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Write me.”

“I will.” She promised.

Overwhelmed by their feelings, they fought themselves to let go of each other.

“I’ll try to come and see you Princess. Maybe I can steal you away for a few hours or something?”

“I’d like that.” She happily answered as they both finally managed to let go of the other.

He stepped backwards a few steps, “I hope to see you soon Princess.”

“You too Kitty.”

Then with a nod, he turned to leave. Marinette steadied herself as she took a deep breath, her heart aching for some reason.

Deciding on a whim that he couldn’t just leave her like that, he quickly spun around and then Chat Noir was by Marinette’s side once more as he darted in and gave her a quick peck on the lips, unable to resist returning the favor.

“Goodbye.” He whispered, as he noticed that she had closed her eyes, perhaps hoping that she’d get more kisses.

Oh, how he wished he could give her all of his kisses.

She whispered back as she responded, “goodbye, Chat Noir.” Then she puckered up again, only to open her eyes a few seconds later to find that he had already left like the cat that he was.

“Oh, I’m SO going to miss him.” She whispered to the wind before she sighed and then turned around and went back into her room.

The Cat on the rooftop next door had heard and he had to fight with himself to leave his beloved alone, but he knew that they had to separate.

She wasn’t his.

That was when he decided that a relationship with a hero was just too complicated and his heart ached, for her, for them.

“I’ll miss you too Princess.” He whispered back as the thought crossed his mind, _hopefully you’ll see the real me, both sides of me, as one and the same soon, My Love.”_

 

 

 

BONUS: Read at your own risk, spoiler for A Working Vacation

Adrien’s POV

Adrien had finished taking a few selfies around the plane for his social media, showing that he was going to Italy with his friends.

Alya and Nino had already arrived, and Luka had just arrived on his motorcycle to drop off Marinette.

It was loud.

Or at least the crowds were anyway.

Somehow, word had leaked out about the working vacation and many of his fans came to see him off apparently. He didn’t leave Paris often, unlike other models after all. There was a crowd of his fans that were by the gate that the plane was parked nearby, only their classmates, Juleka, Rose, Ivan, Mylene, Max, Kim and Alex as well as Luka and his motorcycle were allowed onto the airstrip to say goodbye.

Juleka was taking pictures, a new hobby of hers, as Luka helped Marinette off of the motorcycle.

Adrien bristled at the action, but he hid it well as he turned to wave at his fans from the top of the staircase of the company jet as Juleka took pictures of the ‘loving couple.’

Time then stood still as his eyes were drawn to Luka and Marinette, her back was towards him and he saw Luka say something to her, then the guitarist smiled as he cupped Marinette’s cheeks with both hands and then quickly drew her in for a kiss.

Adrien lost his composure for a just a brief tenth of a second as he saw red, ready to run to her aid, but Plagg clawed him through his shirt causing Adrien to grunt and school his features as Nino quickly put a comforting hand on Adrien’s shoulder.

Adrien gave a quick and final wave to the crowd with a small model worthy smile before he shrugged off Nino as he fought the growl that still lingered in his throat. He ignored whatever it was that Alya was saying as he entered the jet as he felt his heart breaking.

He knew that if Luka kissed her, he was telling her that he wanted them to be more than just friends that were fake dating or casually dating or whatever. It meant that he wanted to be with her, and what was stopping her from saying no?

He could feel the physical changes brought on by wanting to protect his love, his Marinette. Yet another side effect of the miraculous, he could grow fang like canines and claws in an instant to protect her. Thankfully he had managed to hide them.

Why did he have to court her as Chat Noir and fall for her? He knew he loved deeply, when he fell, he fell hard, kind of like he had for Ladybug, but this time, this time it was more real and there was nothing that he could do about it. She didn’t know it, but she held his heart already, and now he was in pain, knowing that he had lost her too.

Retreating to the onboard office for some privacy, Adrien hoped to calm himself down so that his claws and cat like canines would shrink to normal size as he tried to control his jealousy.

His recently healed fractures in his hand throbbed as he kept tensing and relaxing his fists as he tried to calm down.

Somewhere far away Plagg was trying to talk to him, but he couldn’t hear him, he felt so lost.

It took twenty minutes before he looked like himself again, the claws and canines finally receding, with his only thought being, _now how am I going to face Mari?_

**Author's Note:**

> Just in case you didn't catch it....
> 
> There was a chance for a reveal between Chat Noir and the rest of the team In the story Ambulance. But Lady bug was too broken hearted over her (tall and blond) guy that Chat reminds her of and with her concerns over the fact that Hawkmoth wanted them to get know each other better, she was totally against the idea of a reveal.
> 
> Marinette told everyone that she fell for a guy online that she had known for awhile that had green eyes, but he wasn't interested in her that way. 
> 
> Yes, the jerks that did all that, is Adrien. He is oblivious to the fact that his telling Marinette that he wanted to invite a couple of girls along on their upcoming working vacation convinced her that he wasn't interested in Marinette. Which is why Ladybug also had her heart broken at the same time and realized that her fantasy crush was just like Chat Noir's fantasy crush on Ladybug, which is why she 'let him go' to find someone that could love both sides of him, as that's the only way she feels like love can be real and because she didn't want him to suffer the heartbreak she felt, although he did after she pushed him away as he tried to get her to reconsider. 
> 
> Ironically visiting Marinette as Chat Noir has given them both a chance to heal and get support from one another platonically, thus far. They do give each other magical hugs, because of their miraculous they help to balance out the others emotions, basically it's like letting off steam without the risk of getting burned... hopefully. Neither one of them have figured out this lovely detail out yet, even though Master Fu mentioned it once.


End file.
